Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!
by X-MENobsession
Summary: Dancing is fun. Or so Kitty and Pietro think, but that's before the dance lessons, the competition, and the whole falling in love with each other thing.
1. I thought you were just bored

Dance on, Kietro...Dance on

By: X-MENobsession

AN: This is my first ever story, so please review but try not to be too cruel! Yes, I know the title sucks but I've never been very good at coming up with titles anyway. I mean, look at how I title my chapters. So read and enjoy. There will be a second chapter whether you like the story or not simply because I have nothing better to do.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything except for my really lame title and all the time I have on my hands. I've got too much time on my hands. Can you believe such a calamity? I've got too much time on my hands. Take it away, take it away from me! I don't own that song either!

Thoughts

Chapter 1 "I Thought you were just bored..."

A brown-haired, blue-eyed Kitty Pryde carefully tip-toed around the entrance of an abandoned warehouse. Rumor had it that the Brotherhood of Mutants had been hanging around there lately, and, as the X-Men, Kitty (a.k.a. Shadowcat) and her friends were trying to figure out why. The rest of the team was checking the other parts of the building. It was so large that when they split up, they were each forced to search on their own. Scott didn't like this at all, he believed very strongly in the buddy system. However they had to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time...it was a school night.

Kitty was trying to be as quiet as possible, but it seemed like even her breaths were echoeing back at her. She didn't really know what it was she was supposed to be looking for, but she hoped she'd find it soon. It was getting late and Kitty still had to finish her math homework.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew on Kitty's back. She shivered and thought to herself, Like, they really need to work on that draft! Then the wind blew again and Kitty turned around. She felt an eerie sensation that someone was close by. "Who's there?" she yelled. Her voice wavered a bit and it didn't sound as loud as she had planned, but can you blame her? This place was just too creepy! Then another voice came from behind her...

"Hey, Pretty Kitty!"

"Ah!" she screamed and turned around to see a smiling Quicksilver standing in front of her.

"Don't call me that!" she yelled at him.

"You know you love it," Pietro said, still smiling devilishly.

"I do not," Kitty mumbled finally getting comfortable in her own skin again after she had just jumped out of it.

Pietro casually walked over to a large crate and sat down on it. "So what's a sweet girl like you doing wandering around an abandoned warehouse after dark?"

Kitty took a few steps toward him. "I could ask you the same question."

"Ah, but you see, I have a reason for being here."

"Well so do I."

"Yes, but mine is actually good."

"Than may I ask what that reason is?"

"Sure."

Kitty waited for him to tell her, but all he did was raise his eyebrows. Then she realized what he wanted her to do and figured that she might as well humor him.

She put her hands on her hips, tilted her head, and said, "All right, what is this stellar reason you have for being here?"

Pietro opened his mouth like he was about to answer, then paused. After a few seconds of pretending to think about it he finally said, "None of your business."

Kitty sighed. Quicksilver wasn't going to tell her anything and by now she was just wasting time. But just as she decided to walk away, his cell phone rang. She got a good look at the phoen when he answered it. It was nice. Top of the line. Kitty figured he'd swiped it. He was certainly fast enough.

After a lot of "yeah"s and "sure thing"s Pietro hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. He then stood up and said, "Well, Pretty Kitty, I'd love to continue this intriguing conversation, but duty calls."

Kitty decided to try and get some information out of him one last time. "You're not, like just gonna leave me hanging, are you?"

"About what?"

"Why are you here Pietro?" Kitty practically screamed at him.

"You really want to know why I was here?"

"Yes," she answered, exasperated.

Pietro leaned in close to her and motioned with his finger for her to do the same. She did, and he whispered in her ear, "To distract you."

Then he was off, leaving only a gust of wind in his wake. And Kitty was left there alone, kicking herself for being so stupid.

Kitty was lying on the living room couch, just staring at the ceiling. Rogue was upstairs in their room listening to music. Sometimes Kitty could stand Rogue's taste in music, but right now she was depressed enough.

Idiot! Quicksilver was the distraction! And I totally fell for it. Thanks to me the entire mission was a waste.

"That's not true," Jean said, walking into the living room.

Kitty sat up on the couch and asked, "Jean, were you reading my thoughts?"

"More like overhearing." Jean sat down next to Kitty. "The mission wasn't a complete failure. I mean, we got lots of improtant information."

"Such as...?"

"Well, we now know that the entrance you entered was the only way to get into the building, and...um...if Quicksilver was supposed to be the distraction than that means the Brotherhood is doing something that they want to distract us from." She knew she was grasping at straws here, but Kitty looked so sad.

"Nice try, Jean." Kitty still felt upset, but she gave her friend a smile. She didn;t need to be worrying about her.

Just then Nightcrawler teleported in. "Mein freund, look at this!" He shoved a piece of paper in Kitty's face. She and Jean quickly read it over.

"A dance contest?" Jean asked when she had finished.

"Ja, at zhe end of zhe month. I vas wondering if Kitty vould like to join with me."

"That sounds like fun," Jean said as she turned toward Kitty. "And it will keep your mind of the...not-completely-failed mission."

"I'd be happy to enter with you, Kurt." Kitty loved to dance and she was good at it too. Her only concern was Kurt's dancing ability. "But do you like, know how to dance? I mean, I've never seen you do it before."

"Vell, not really, but I read on zhe school's website zhat zhey're starting classes after school tomorrow. Do you vant to come with me?"

"I already know how to dance, Kurt."

"I know but you could help me."

Kitty thought about it. It might be kind of boring if she knew everything they were going to tech her. She had taken lessons back in Minnesota. But it might actually be fun. Kurt was going to be there and he always knew how to make her laugh. Besides, you never know, something interesting might happen...

"Whatcha up to Lancey?"

Lance was sitting at the kitchen table in the Brotherhood's boarding house. The table was covered in papers which were now all over the floor after Lance jumped from Pietro suddenly showing up right next to him. "Don't do that!" he yelled as he started to pick up the papers.

Instead of helping him, Pietro sat down and started to balance a pencil on his nose. "So what's all the paperwork for?"

"Most of it's just homework, but the rest..." Lance put a flyer on the table in front of his team mate who dropped the pencil and read it.

"There's a party this weekend, so what? Looks kind of lame."

"Hey!" Lance grabbed the flyer and looked it over to see what was wrong with it. "It happens to be our party."

"Man, we suck at throwing a party...since when are we throwing a party?"

Lance sighed as he put the last stack of papers on the kitchen table. "Since 3 days ago when I told you about it. Why else do you think we're clearing out that warehouse?"

"I thought you were just bored..."

Lance sighed yet again. "Just make sure that everyone at school has one of these flyers." He handed bunch of papers to Pietro.

"All right," he said. "But can I change the stupid posters? 'Cause if I'm gonna have my name linked to this party it had better be great."

"Your name won't be linked to the party. None of ours will. The party is supposed to be thrown by an 'anonymous student'. That way people actually come. After they see what a cool party it is, we tell them that we're the ones who threw it, thus making us cool."

Pietro stared at him for a few seconds. "You have some serious issues..."

Lance had way too much to do, he couldn't handle dealing with Pietro anymore. "Go ahead and change whatever you don't like. Just leave me alone, okay? I'm busy."

Pietro had already happily run out of the room when Lance began to think about what he just said and wondered whether he had given Pietro a little too much power...

THE END (OF THIS CHAPTER)

AN: I hope you liked it, I know I sure did! Please review! PLEASE! 


	2. I'm not crazy!

**Dance on, Kietro, Dance on**

By: XMENobsession (HeeHee, that's me!)

**AN: **Thank you sooooo much to the two people who reviewed: rose and kietrolvr1! You are now my 2 favorite people in the world! Yes, this is going to be a Kietro story. I love Kietro, and they're really fun to write about because they hate each other. So far it has been about Kitty and Pietro seperately (except for the very beginning) but I promise that they'll talk to each other in the next chapter. Read this one and try to figure out why! **_REVIEW!_**

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own the X-Men or anything related to them. I am merely a fan. A very big fan, but a fan nonetheless. If I had the money, I'd buy Marvel comics and I'd make them make more X-Men evolution shows and put Kitty and Pietro together. But sadly, I can't. (

Chapter 2

"I'm Not Crazy!"

The bell rang to signify the end of the school day, and Kurt Wagner raced down the hall to his friend's locker.

"What's with you?" Rogue asked him, seeing that he was having a very hard time containing his excitement.

"Today Kitty and I are going to our first dance lessons!"

"Oh, right. Kitty told me about that. Why do ya wanna enter that competition anyway?"

"Vell..." Kurt looked embaressed.

"Ah, c'mon, blue-boy! Ya'll can tell me," Rogue said, grabbing her bookbag and closing her locker.

Kurt looked down at his feet and said, "Zhe 3rd place prize is a gift certificate to Uncle Bill's Burger Hut." He looked up with a very serious look on his face. "It vill be mine!"

Rogue laughed. Kurt was a comedian, but he never joked when it came to food.

"Oh, is that why you chose me for your partner? You think I'm only capable of winning 3rd place?" Kitty joked as she walked up to her two friends.

Kurt shook his head fervently. "No, no, no! I think zhat you are capable of winning 1st place, but paired vith me you're only 3rd best." His cheeks turned pink as Kitty and Rogue tried to stifle a laugh.

Then Rogue said good-bye to the dance partners and went to meet the other X-Men at Scott's car as Kurt excitedly grabbed Kitty's arm and pulled her down the hallway toward the gymnasium, where the dance lessons were being held.

Across the hall from where the three X-Men had just been standing was Lance Alvers and his fellow Brotherhood member, Pietro Maximoff. Lance closed his locker and Pietro, who was leaning against the other lockers, said, "Finally, we can go home." He started to walk away, but quickly noticed that the rock-tumbler wasn't with him. "Are you coming?"

Lance ingnored him and asked, "Did you hear that?"

For about a second Pietro actually listened...then he lost interest. "C'mon, I wanna go home!"

Lance just kept staring at the corner that Kitty and Kurt had just turned. "Kitty...she's going to some sort of 'lessons' with the elf. I couldn'y really hear, you were complaining in my ear too much."

Pietro decided to let that one go and stared down hallway as well. He didn't see anyone. He raised an eyebrow as he turned to his friend. "Seriously, you need to seek proffesional help."

Instead of arguing with the speed demon, Lance simply grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the direction Kitty had gone.

"Hey! Whatdoyouthinkyou'redoing!"

"We're going to an...extracurricular activity."

"What about Freddy and Todd? You're their ride home."

Lance stopped. "Oh yeah..." He looked around the desrted hallway. "Where are they anyway?"

Pietro shrugged.

"Well," Lance said. "I told them that if they were late to meet me one more time, I wasn't driving them home. So, I guess they're walking." He turned to walk away. "C'mon, let's go!"

Pietro crossed his arms over his chest and said defiantly, "No way! Not until you tell me where we're going."

"If I did that..." Lance held out his hand and shook the earth underneath the speed demon's feet. "It wouldn't be a surprise!" Pietro fell flat on his rear end and Lance grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him away.

Meanwhile...

At Lance's Jeep stood Freddy Dukes (The Blob) and his freshman friend Todd Tolensky (Toad). Todd looked at his watch. They had been waiting there for almost 20 minutes. "Where are they, yo?"

Freddy just shrugged.

Kitty and Kurt entered the gymnasium. There were only about 10 other people there and on a stool near the far wall was a stereo. They didn't see an instructor of any sort so they figured that class hadn't started yet and began to wander around the room.

For the first time since Kurt had heard about this dance competition, he looked nervous. "Don't worry," Kitty told him. "I'm here with you." Kurt gave a weak smile. "I know, it's just...I really can't dance!"

"That's why we're here, remember?"

Kurt nodded and scanned the room. "Amanda?" His face brightened up when he saw the girl he'd had a crush on for months. Amanda turned away from talking to her friend and smiled at him.

"Hi, Kurt! What are you doing here?"

"Taking dance lessons, vhat else?" He gave Kitty a slight push to tell her to get lost while he talked to Amanda. She got the hint and made a very smooth exit. "I've got to go...somewhere else." She side-stepped away and began to search for someone else to talk to.

Lance and Pietro abruptly stopped in front of the gym doors. There was a sign next to them.

" 'Dance Lessons' ?" Lance read out loud.

"What was that?" Pietro wasn't really listening but he thought he heard two words he really didn't like.

"Uh...I said...'chance messons'?...Yeah, Chance Messons. He was a friend of mine back at my old school." With a speed that Quicksilver would admire, he turned the sign around before Pietro could read it.

"What made you think of him?" the speed demon asked.

"Um..." Lance's hand was on the door, ready to enter the room. "I...I always think of him whenever I see a door." He began to stroke the door to emphasize his lie. Pietro just stared at him. "I'm not crazy!"

Pietro raised his hands in defense. "Never said you were, Lancey." Lance walked through the door and he added. "Definatly thought it, though."

**AN:** Okay, I'm actually pretty happy with this chapter. I try to make it funny, but sometimes I really fail. But there is no reason to be mean to the humorously handicapped! Just **review **their stories!


	3. I'll dance parrallelograms around you!

**Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!**

By: XMENobsession

**AN:** I'm really sorry if you think that this chapter sucks, but I was having serious issues with it. I just wanted to post chp. 3 and move on! But I did come up with a great way to make things a bit funnier. When you review (and you'd better!) tell me a random word and I'll try to put it into the story. For instance, in this chapter I chose the word 'parallelogram' (see if you can find it in the story!). I'd love to see what words you guys come up with and I think that it will be really fun trying to use them!

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing! Except my title which is really starting to grow on me. Maybe it's not so stupid…no, it is.

Pietro followed his friend into the gym. "What is this?" He asked when he looked around. Lance tried to come up with a good lie, but he didn't think as fast as the speed demon. So when his mouth opened all that came out was the truth. "We're taking dance lessons."

Many words came to Pietro's mind. Some a little off-topic and others just too nasty to write, but of them all, only one was spoken. "Why?"

Lance didn't know how to answer that. Truthfully, he had just followed Kitty here, but he was still arguing within himself as to why. His immediate thought had been that he still had feelings for her, but that couldn't be it. No. He had been over her for a while now, just like she was over him. then…why did I follow her here?"

In the end, Lance figured it was just out of habit, but he couldn't tell Pietro that. Luckily, though, he had come up with an excuse. "We have to learn to dance for our party."

Pietro shook his head. "I doubt we're going to be waltzing at the party. Besides, I already know how."

"Where did you learn to waltz?" Lance asked.

"'Waltzing for Dummies'," the speed demon answered, as if there was no other way to learn. He took another look around. "Yup, all losers, and now you're one of them, Lancey. I'm outta here."

"Wait!" Lace said. "You can't leave me alone here!"

Pietro smirked. "Watch me." Then he walked back out into the hallway.

Kitty watched him leave. An evil grin spread across her face as she realized that this was the perfect opportunity for revenge.

She quickly followed and saw him walking towards the exit. She stood in the middle of the hall and said in the most seductive voice she could muster, "Hello, Pietro."

He stopped immediately. "Hello…you."

"Don't you remember me?"

"Of course!" He started to turn around to see if her face would help him remember her name.

"Stop!" Kitty yelled, getting out of character for a minute. She was back in her seductress mode, though, when she said, "I…I have a surprise for you, but first you have to guess my name. And no turning around and cheating!"

Pietro shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Okay, let's see…" He racked his brain for a name, any name, but only one came to him. "…Trixie?"

Kitty wondered how many girls he actually knew with the name Trixie. Probably more than he should. "Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!"

The speedster released the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. He didn't remember her, but this Trixie girl sounded hot. "So, where's my surprise?"

Kitty walked up behind him, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered into his ear, "I'm pregnant."

Pietro jumped so high he almost hit the ceiling, which caused Kitty to lose her balance and fall. But she didn't even try to get up; she was too busy rolling on the floor with laughter. The speed demon saw her and yelled, "You!"

"The look on your face…" Kitty managed to say in between fits of giggles. She rolled onto her hands and knees and slowly stood up.

"I never knew you X-Geeks were allowed to be so mean!"

"It's called a sense of humor, idiot. Oh right, I forgot you were born without one."

Pietro wasn't appreciating all of these insults. "Why are you being so mean to me, Pryde? What've I ever done to you?"

"Like, duh! You tricked me, remember? The warehouse, the creepiness, the damn distraction?"

"You're still upset about that? Man, it was like…forever ago."

"It was yesterday!"

"Close enough."

"No, it's not! But I don't care any more because making you jump like that…" She started to laugh again.

"You didn't make me jump!" Pietro said defensively.

Kitty raised one eyebrow. "Then, what did?"

"Nothing. I…I like to jump. You got a problem with that? Seriously, at random times during the day I break out into…jumping fits. You just happened to catch me during one."

"'Jumping Fits'?"

"Yes, an important part of my unique personality."

"One of the many," Kitty mumbled under her breath.

"Hey, I heard that!"

"I honestly don't care." She thought for a moment, and then added, "But Trixie might…"

"Shut up!" Pietro's face went beet red. "Shut up, you computer X-Geek with the sexy voice and stupid ponytail!"

Kitty smiled. "You think my voice is sexy?"

"What?"

"You just said…"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you…"

"No! I called you a stupid X-Geek, nothing else!"

"Actually, you called me a computer X-Geek with a stupid ponytail…and a sexy voice."

"No, I meant that Trixie…which it turns out is you…she, um…" Pietro realized that the only way he was going to win this one would be to have the last word. So, he yelled, a lot louder than he wanted, "Good-Bye!" He then turned to walk away from the annoying girl.

"Fine then," she said. "Just go ahead and chicken out."

Pietro had to answer. That was the only way he could win, and he **had** to win! "Chicken out on what?"

Kitty pointed to the gymnasium doors. "I saw you run out of there like a scared little boy. Can't handle the pressures of dance class?"

"For your information…" He said, slowly turning around. "I don't need dance lessons…unlike **some** people."

"Hey, I don't need them either. I'm here with Kurt."

Pietro looked around and found that they were the only ones there. "Of course you are…"

Kitty huffed and crossed her arms. "I could dance circles around you."

"Yeah? Well, I could dance parallelograms around **you**!"

-- "…what?"

"You heard me!"

"Then why don't you prove it?" Pietro didn't move. "Come on, dance!"

He thought for a minute and smiled. "Sounds like a challenge, but what would I dance to? No music."

The dance instructor entered the gymnasium and clapped her hands. "All right everyone, find a partner and start dancing, I want to see what you can do." She began to walk over to the stereo on the stool.

Kurt was about to ask Amanda if she wanted to be his partner when she said, "Guess I'd better go. It was really nice talking to you, Kurt."

"You aren't taking zhe lessons?"

"No, my friend is though. I just showed her where they were being held, she's new here."

"Oh…vell, bye then."

"See ya tomorrow!" And with that she left.

Kurt looked at her friend. She had already found a partner. So had everyone else and Kitty was no where in sight. Vhere did she go?

The instructor turned on some music and everyone started dancing, except for 2 people. She walked over to the X-Man and said "Don't have a partner?"

Kurt looked up at her. She had wild strawberry blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. She was wearing a long dress and a heavy shawl over it. Kurt didn't understand this particular fashion choice based on the very warm weather outside, but she seemed to him to be the type of person who wore coats in the summer and shorts in December.

He shook his head 'no' in answer to her question and she began leading him across the gym. "Well, apparently we have an odd number of boys and girls this evening. The only other free person is…"

Kurt gasped when he saw him. **"Lance?"**

**AN: **Now **_review! _**And don't forget to give me your random word!


	4. Where did you come from Cotton Eye Joe?

**Dance on, Kietro, Dance on**

By: XMENobsession

**AN:** Yes, it could be longer and no, I didn't use any of the random words, but I have an excuse! You see, I started writing before I read any reviews and when I did I had already decided what I wanted to do with this chapter. But I promise that I will use the words stapler and nose in the next chapter! Well, I did manage to use fiberglass! That was a hard one…

I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you all enjoy it and make sure to **_review!_** If you have any random words you like than tell me! I can't promise that I'll use them, but I promise I'll try!

Also, if you ever find yourself waiting for the next chapter and it's taking me a long time to post it, read my profile. I tend to update that more than my story. If something's going on I promise I'll tell you there…or I'll say a whole bunch of crazy things, but that's always fun to read!

**DISCLAIMER: **I own absolutely **NOTHING!**

Chapter 4

"Where did you come from, where did you go?

Where did you come from Cotton Eye Joe?"

"What would I dance to? No music."

Kitty and Pietro heard a faint sound. It grew louder as they neared the gym doors.

Kitty laughed. "There's your music."

They could hear classical music playing from inside the gymnasium and, as Kitty peered through the small window, she saw pairs of people dancing around the room…very badly.

"Not exactly a one-person dance," Pietro said, formulating a plan in his head.

As Kitty began to look for Kurt, she felt something wrap around her waist and pull her away. Next thing she knew, she was staring into the smiling face on Pietro Maximoff. "Like, what do you think you're doing?" she asked struggling to get away, but the speed demon only held on tighter.

"I thought you said you can dance."

"I can!"

"Then dance." He spun her around, and then pulled her close to him again. She could see in his eyes how much he wanted to beat her. He's so competitive! It'll only make my victory even sweeter. She held Pietro's hand with her left and put her right on his shoulder and they began to dance.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"I do not kid," the instructor said in a very serious tone.

"But, come on! You can't make us dance together. Zhere must be some rule against zhis!" Kurt was practically on his knees, begging her to let him dance with anyone else.

"No, but there is a rule against talking back to a teacher."

"You're not a teacher," Lance said, "I mean, what do you teach?"

She gave him a very stern look and answered, "Art. We're currently studying the majesty that si fiberglass. By the way, you've missed my last five classes." Lance ignored her and finally realized why she looked so familiar to him. Then she pushed the two students together and shouted, "Dance!" She stood a few feet away and watched them awkwardly try to move in time to the beat. She looked past them for a moment and saw a brunette head twirl in front of the small window on the door. What the…?

"You two stay here," she said as she began to walk away. "And keep dancing!"

She crossed the room and opened the heavy door. Kitty and Pietro were still waltzing in the hallway. She smiled when she saw them. "Dance lessons are being held in the gum, not the corridor."

The two immediately stopped. "I'm sorry," Kitty said lowering her head, always hating to get into trouble. Pietro though was more used to it and stared the instructor in the eyes defiantly.

"You may however, continue this inside if you wish…"

They looked at each other. Neither had officially won yet, and neither would give up without a fight. So when Pietro offered Kitty his arm, she quickly accepted and they strolled into the gym.

The instructor raced over to the stereo, put in a new cd, and pressed 'play'.

A Spanish tune started to play and, for the second time, Kitty felt something wrap around her waist. But she didn't try to fight it now.

"You know how to salsa?" she asked surprised.

"'Salsa Dancing for Dummies'," he answered.

"They're good..." the instructor said to the closest person, who happened to be Lance. He had run as far away from Kurt as he could once she left to check the hallway.

"I guess…" he said. "If you like people who are rhythmic and what not…"

The instructor turned to the stereo. I wonder… She pressed 'next' and the music changed.

_It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing…_

Kitty and Pietro automatically changed their dance.

"Don't tell me," Kitty said, smiling, "You swing too?"

"Seriously, those books are amazing!"

She giggled in spite of herself.

"What about you? They giving dance lessons in that Danger Room of yours now?"

"How do you know about that!"

The speed demon simply smiled, and Kitty realized that it was no use trying to get him to tell her.

"There wasn't a whole lot to do back home, so I took lessons on every dance style they had. They told me I'm a natural."

"Really? They told me that too!"

"Who? The books? What, were they audio?"

"No… they just…spoke to me."

Kitty giggled again.

"They really are talented aren't they?"

Lance sighed. He was sick of hearing this lady compliment Pietro so much.

She could see his boredom. "All right then, let's have some fun with this..." She pressed 'next' again and…

_You can't see it…_

_It's electric! Woogie, woogie, woogie, woogie!_

_You gotta feel it…_

_It's electric! Woogie, woogie, woogie, woogie!_

_Ooh, shocking!_

Lance smiled as he watched the dancers do the Electric Slide side by side. After about a minute, though, the instructor changed the song.

_It's fun to stay at the…_

_YMCA!_

Almost everyone in the room instinctively threw their arms in the air to create the 'Y' (and so on…).

Lance's smile grew wider at the scene, but he began to roll on the floor in laughter when the next song played.

_If it hadn't been for Cotton Eye Joe_

_I'd been married long, long time ago_

_Where did you come from, where did you go?_

_Where did you come from Cotton Eye Joe?_

The instructor watched them do the same dance perfectly over and over again, until she decided that she had much better things to do. She turned off the music and Kitty and Pietro (and everyone else who had joined in) stopped moving.

"You two," she pointed at the two most tired of the dancers. "Come with me. The rest of you…keep practicing!" Lace stood up, annoyed that the entertainment had ended. "And you aren't you supposed to be with your dance partner?"

**AN:** I love watching people do the Cotton Eye Joe! I love it almost as I love joining in! I also love the Electric Slide! (Ooh shocking!) If I messed up any lyrics, I'm really sorry, but I didn't bother to do any research. I rarely do. Well, **REVIEW!** I love all of my reviewers and I really do care what you think. So if you want me to add something, just tell me! I may not actually do it, but I will seroisly consider it. I don't have many reviewers so I really want to make the ones I've got happy!


	5. This is exactly why we need counseling!

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **I love this chapter! I hope you love it too! I think that you will. I used one random word (try and figure out what one. I make it kind of easy…). I meant to use another one, but then I got rid of the paragraph I was going to use it in. Sorry! School is hard and very time-consuming, but I always make time for you guys! Mostly because I'm a procrastinator and writing this is something I do to avoid doing other things. Aw well, it works for me!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own anything! I do own my title and the dance instructor, but you can have her if you want. I didn't even give her a name…I'm open to suggestions by the way!

Chapter 5

"This is exactly why we need counseling!"

"Please, sit." The instructor motioned toward the 2 chairs in front of her desk. Kitty and Pietro did so and the woman sat in front of them. "So, you like to dance?"

"Not really…" Pietro began to look around the room for something to 'accidentally' break.

"Yes, I do," Kitty answered truthfully.

"You're both very talented."

"I know." Pietro settled for simply rearranging her desk.

"Will you stop that?" Kitty snapped. "Those aren't your things. Jeese, you can be so annoying!"

"Who's annoying?"

"You're annoying!"

"Annoying how?"

"What do you mean 'how'? You just are."

The instructor watched them closely. After listening to a detailed description of the '5 levels of annoyingness' and an answer saying that Pietro was on level 10, she asked, "How do you two know each other?"

"Ummm…well…" Kitty tried to think of a way to explain their 'unique relationship' without revealing anything important. Pietro got an idea first, though.

He quickly put his arm around her shoulders and said, "We've been in love for as long as I can remember."

"Ewww! Get away from me!" She grabbed his arm and threw it back towards him.

"She has intimacy problems."

"Only with people I hate."

"You love me!"

"Love you? I don't even like you! I don't even dislike you, I **loathe** you!"

Pietro looked at the quiet instructor. "You see what I'm talking about?"

She simply folded her hands and said, "You do realize that this isn't couples counseling?"

Kitty scrunched her _nose_ in anger. "We are** not** a couple!"

"This is exactly why we need counseling!" the speed demon yelled.

The instructor stood up. "All right, that's it! I asked you here because I've seen what you can do and I thought you'd be interested in this competition, but if you're too busy fighting with each other…"

"Competition?" Pietro was suddenly very interested in what she had to say. "What competition?"

"A dance competition. Would you like to sign up?"

"Why not? I love a good competition!"

"You do realize," Kitty said. "You'd be dancing with me?"

"Oh, in that case, I pass."

"But I believe that you have a good chance of winning." The instructor pushed.

"I do love to win…"

"I'd be winning too," Kitty added.

"Pass."

The instructor sighed. "I really thought you two would de great…but I guess I was wrong." She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out 2 flyers. "Here, think about it at least."

Kitty looked at it. It was the same one that Kurt had showed her the other day. "I'm sorry, but even if I wanted to, I already promised my friend Kurt I'd enter with him."

"Kurt…I think I remember him. German accent?"

"Yes, exactly. He's really looking forward to this. I could never let him down."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Still, please keep an open mind."

"I will, but I doubt my answer will change." She stood up and walked out. Pietro still sat there.

The instructor sat back down and looked at him. "I don't understand you two. You seem to hate each other, but just a second ago you were dancing with such…passion."

"Me and Pryde? Passion? You've got to get you're eyes checked, lady 'cause there's nothing between us but sarcastic comments."

"I know what I saw, and didn't you just say you loved her?"

"Once again, sarcasm."

"And was it sarcasm that caused you to dance together in the corridor?"

"That was pure competition. By the way, who won?"

"Pardon me?"

"Which of us was the better dancer? That's the whole reason we were dancing!"

The instructor thought for a minute, and then said, "I really couldn't tell, but I'm sure I'd know if I saw you dance together one more time…"

"I could arrange that. Pryde's not very hard to manipulate."

She smiled. "Good, I'll see you both tomorrow then?"

"During dance lessons?"

"You've got a point. After dance lessons?"

"Sure. Then **you** can tell her who the better dancer is."

"Of course."

Pietro smiled at the thought of winning and ran out to the gym. The instructor began to put the things on her desk back in order when she remembered…"My class!"

Oooooooooooo

Kitty walked into the gym and soon found Kurt standing alone. "What's wrong?" she asked clearly seeing that he was upset.

"I don't vant to talk about it. Let's just go home."

"But what about dance lessons?"

Kurt just kept walking away. "Never again."

"Hey, Kitty!" Lance called as he ran towards her.

"Oh, hi Lance. What's up?"

"Nothing. You guys leaving?"

"Yeah, Kurt's really freaked about something. What happened here?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all! And if the elf says anything different, he's lying!"

"Okay, okay…so nothing happened…"

At that moment Pietro ran into the room. "Whatcha doin'?" he asked.

"We were just talking…"

"Huh, that's nice. Hey, Kitty can I see you for a minute," he looked at Lance.** "Alone?"**

Kitty turned around. Kurt had already left. "No," she answered simply and walked away.

Pietro was shocked. "Did she just…reject me? **Me?"**

Lance smiled. "Yes, I believe she did."

Ooooooooo

Kurt teleported into the X-Mansion's living room where Scott and Jean were sitting on the couch, watching TV. "Hey," Jean said happily. "How were dance lessons?"

"I don't vant to talk about it." Kurt answered and slowly walked upstairs to his room.

"What's with him?" Scott asked.

"Beats me," Kitty sat down in between them, which was a hard thing to accomplish, considering how close they were to one another. But she managed to squeeze her petite frame in. "He wouldn't talk to me either."

"Well, shouldn't you already know? I mean, weren't you there?" Jean asked scooting over to give Kitty and herself some more room.

Kitty bit her lip. "I was…busy." She decided that the truth was defiantly not the best answer. The others just wouldn't understand. What is there to understand? We danced, end of story. She still kept her mouth shut, though.

She reached for the remote and Scott sighed. The young mutant obviously wasn't planning on leaving anytime so, so he wouldn't be able to be alone with Jean. But he figured that there was no use brooding over it. He tried to make himself more comfortable and looked to see what show Kitty had put on. Ho dammit! Not Gilmore Girls, **again**?

Ooooooooo

Pietro's mind was racing. She had turned him down. **She** had turned **him** down. How was that possible? She was just a freshman with absolutely no fashion sense. How dare she turn him down! Now he **had **to beat her. **_He must! _**He had to dance with her again in front of that weird teacher lady and get her to say that he was the better dancer. That was the only way he could reclaim his sanity.

He kept thinking of what would happen after he won. The look on her face would be priceless. Maybe I should bring a camera… She might even cry! Pietro pictured Kitty's face all red and tear-stained. For some reason it didn't make him feel any better. In fact, he felt…worse. He quickly erased the picture from his mind as well as the memory of feeling bad for Kitty Pryde.

"What's with you?" Fred asked. "You've been somewhere else all night."

"I'm just…thinking'. I'm gonna go to bed now."

"But it's only 8:00, besides; your favorite show is on."

The speed demon looked at the television. Gilmore Girls was on. "As tempted as I am to stay up…I still have a lot of thinking to do."

"Oh well, g'night."

"Good-night."

**AN: **Yeah, I love this chapter. It might be my favorite. I hope you enjoyed it! Even if you didn't **_REVIEW_**! I'll accept any advice you've got.


	6. That's what I said! Then I got eaten

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **I am the Queen of Sarcasm! Ha, ha, ha! Bow down to your queen! Bow, I say! Or just **REVIEW **my story. Thank you soooo much requim17 for your really nice review! I always feel so good about myself after I read your reviews. I really think you're going to enjoy this chapter. As for the rest of you…

Hope you like it! The beginning is kind of crazy and the end is mostly just conversation, but I think they work well together to create a great chapter. Tell me what you think: **REVIEW!**

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing except for the instructor (who was not in this chapter and who I've decided to name. I won't tell you what her name is until another chapter, though. Ha ha, yes I'm evil. Even though most of you probably don't care.)

Chapter 6

"That's exactly what I said! Then I got eaten…"

Kitty stood in the middle of a circular ballroom with a dome-shaped roof and a marble floor. She was wearing a beautiful pink gown, her hair was up with small pink flowers in it, and her entire body seemed to be covered in glitter.

She heard the familiar bang of a heavy door closing and turned around to see Pietro, looking very dashing in his tux. He quickly crossed the room and held her closely in his arms. She was shocked at how…right it felt. Then they began to dance, though it felt more like flying. Kitty found that she was actually enjoying herself when the roof began to crack and crumble onto the floor. Before she knew it, a large piece of stone was falling right toward her…

Kitty woke up, sweating. Her digital clock read 6:28. She only had 2 minutes until the alarm was set to go off, so she figured she might as well get up now. She turned off the alarm and walked past a sleeping Rogue into the bathroom, while in the Brotherhood house Pietro was having a very different dream…

He was standing in an empty hallway at Bayville High. All seemed to be quiet, but that wouldn't last long. All of the doors suddenly opened and out of them came…

"Aah! Giant staplers!"

It was true. There were huge, oversized staplers coming right at him. He began to run away, but tripped over a cart full of mangos. "My only hope of survival is to throw these mangos at the staplers to try and ward them off." He began to do just that. "Ugh! It's not working! I must try something else…" He turned around and saw a tree growing in the middle of the hall. He had time to utter one word before he got eaten by a stapler and woke up. "Ginkgo?"

He sat up in bed. No, he wasn't sweating, but he was still really freaked out. He took a quick shower (superhumanly quick), got dressed, and raced downstairs for breakfast. He still had to think of a way to get Pryde to dance with him again. Maybe he could just dangle a pair of keys in front of her and while she was distracted he'd have Lance grab her and bag her. Then…no, she'd just phase out of the bag. (AN: Notice that Pietro discards this idea because he realizes that it wouldn't work, not because it is morally and ethically wrong, and most likely against the law.)

Maybe he could…maybe he could just be nice to her. What? Never! Though it would probably be the most effective way of getting her to follow me…dammit! Aw well, I'll just smile sweetly and she'll be putty in my hands. I wonder, do I have any silly putty?

Huh, interesting idea, Pietro, but what if she doesn't think you're genuine?

"How could she not? Now seriously, where is my silly putty!"

He goes off to search leaving a baffled Todd and Lance in the kitchen.

"Who was Pietro talking to just now?" Todd asked.

Lance just shrugged and went back to eating his cereal.

Oooooooooooo

Kitty was still trying to forget her dream as she sat at the breakfast table. But she just couldn't' get rid of the feeling of how much she had like it. But that's why dreams are dreams, right? 'Cause if they were reality than…everything would be chaos. Her head ached from this type of logic and she began to rub her temples.

"What's with you?" Evan asked over a plate of pancakes.

"Nothing, just a…nightmare I had."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jean asked.

Kitty shook her head. "I don't think that that would help." What could she tell the, anyway? That she was dreaming about Quicksilver? They'd think she was going crazy, and of course Jean would have to 'help her through this'. She didn't need any help; there was nothing wrong with her. It was just…just a dream.

After breakfast they all got into Scott's car and drove to school. They arrived the same time as the Brotherhood.

"Oh great," Rogue said seeing them pile out of Lance's jeep. "It is just **too **early."

"Just ignore them," Jean said.

Kitty grabbed her book bag and got out of the car. "With pleasure." She began to walk towards the school when Pietro spotted her. "Kitty! Hey, Kitty, wait up!"

She wasn't given a choice because in the next millisecond the speed demon was standing in front of her. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"

She walked around him. "Yes, I did."

He followed her. "Than you didn't know it was me?"

"Yes, I knew."

"Kitty Pryde, I'm beginning to think that you were purposefully ignoring me."

She stopped and turned to look at him. "Yes, I was."

Man, he is hot! No! No, he's not! This is Pietro Maximoff, the biggest egotistical jerk in…in the universe! And the hottest. Damn! I've got to stop that."

She quickly turned away from him and kept walking. Actually, at this point it was more like jogging, but he still managed to keep up.

"You don't have to be so mean to me! Jeese! I was just trying to be nice and maybe have a normal conversation with you, but I guess you x-men don't practice what you preach."

She stopped again. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you guys are supposed to be all about equality and peace, but you won't stop and talk to me for one minute simply because I have different beliefs than you."

He had caught her on a technicality. "Fine, what do you just **have **to tell me?"

Pietro looked at the large clock in front of the school. "No time now. I'll meet you in the parking lot after school."

Kitty stomped her foot. "No, you'll tell me now!" But he had already run off.

Ooooooooooo

Rogue closed her locker and ran out of the building. She had survived another day at school. Outside, she found Kitty sitting on a bench in deep thought. "What's with you?" she asked.

Kitty blinked a few times, then she noticed Rogue standing in front of her. "Oh, hi. How long have you been there?"

"Not long," Rogue offered Kitty a gloved hand and helped her up. "C'mon, we've gotta meet Scott. We're already late."

"Okay." She followed her friend to the front of the parking lot, the she stood still. "You go ahead Rogue. I…I think I'm going to stay after today."

"Ah thought you and Kurt weren't goin' back to those dance lessons."

"We're not. I just…have a project I need to work on and the mansion isn't exactly the quietest place. Really you go on ahead, I'll see you later."

"All right. Se ya later." Rogue turned and walked to Scott's car where she informed the other Xavier students about Kitty's plans and they all went home.

Kitty watched them drive off the lot and phased through the tree she had been hiding behind. What am I doing? Lying to my friends so that I can meet up with a member of the Brotherhood…so this is what it feels like to be going insane…

She walked around aimlessly for a minute. The parking lot was far from empty, apparently a lot of people were staying late today. Soon, she came across a very sleek, black sport scar. As she stopped to admire it, she couldn't help but say, "Nice…"

"You like?" Kitty jumped. Pietro leaned against the car.

"Where did you come from?"

"Oh, I've been here for a while now, but I don't blame you for not noticing. I'm a very quiet person."

Kitty laughed. "In your dreams."

"More like in your dreams."

She suddenly got very defensive. "I don't dream about you!"

"And I don't dream about myself sitting quietly with my hands folded."

"Then what do you dream about?"

"Super-sized staplers, useless mangos, and random Ginkgo trees."

"Ginkgo?"

"That's exactly what I said! Then I got eaten…"

"You're crazy."

"I believe the word is 'eccentric'."

Kitty laughed. Without realizing it, Pietro smiled. "So you like the car?"

"It's very pretty…"

"You wanna take a spin in it?"

Her eyes widened. "What, it's yours?"

"No, it's not."

"Than you know whose it is?"

"No, I don't."

"What, are you just going to hotwire it and drive off?"

"Yes, I am."

"You know how to hotwire a car?"

"We'll soon see."

"You mean you've never even tried? What happens if the alarm goes off?"

"I run."

"Leaving me to take the blame."

"If you're half as smart as those wacky school people seem to think you are than you'll run too."

Kitty sighed and looked at the car. She would love to ride in it, but she was an x-man and had to do the right thing…dammit! "Do we have another option, preferably one that doesn't involve theft?"

Pietro thought about it. "We could walk…"

"Where to?"

"It's a surprise."

"I don't know…I mean, your version of walking and my version could be two completely different things. Besides, for all I know this place could be like a million miles away."

"It's not **that** far, but you're right. You do walk really slowly and you'd probably get tired…"

"What's our 3rd option?"

He began to think again. "We could take Lance's jeep…"

"He let's you use it?"

"No, but I know where he keeps his keys."

"How is that not theft?"

"It's only stealing when you don't know the person. When it's a friend's it's called 'borrowing'." Kitty gave him an unsure look. "Hey, it's not like we won't give it right back!"

She sighed. "All right. We'll 'borrow' Lance's jeep and drive off to some unknown land…man, I really am crazy."

"Nothing is going to happen to you. I've got it all planned out." He began to look around the parking lot. "Hmm…"

"What?"

"Well, Lance already left to take Todd and Freddy home. So in order to get his car, we'd have to find another mode of transportation to get to the house."

They stood in silence for a minute. Then Pietro broke it by saying, "Yes, I should have thought this out a little more, but honestly, I didn't think you'd agree to come with me."

Kitty sighed again. "Maybe we're both crazy." She started to walk away and Pietro heard her mumble, "I wish I could fly."

**AN: **REVIEW!

(Ha, ha! I **am** the queen of sarcasm! I am never going to forget this!)


	7. Are we there yet?

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **I'm a horrible, horrible person! I made you guys wait forever for this chapter and I'm really sorry. I'm not going to give you any excuses, just please accept my apology. While I'm writing I always think of a million things to say here, but when I finally start typing I've got nothing. Huh. Oh well, read the chapter (why stop at the Author's Note?) and **REVIEW!** It would mean a lot to me, even though I've been so horrible to you guys! Sorry! Oh, I reviewed my own story! I didn't even know I could do that! Isn't that so cool? And a little sad…but also really cool! Ha, ha! I'm such a loser!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing having to do with the X-Men or the song 'Too much time on my hands'. I don't know it that's the name of the song, but you know what I mean. I love that song…

Chapter 7

"Are we there yet?"

"Where are you going?" Pietro asked Kitty as she quickly walked away from him.

"To find us a ride." She began to search the parking lot for the familiar cars of friends, but found none. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Pietro folded his arms and leaned against the sports car. He looked down at it. Then at Kitty. Then back at the car. She knew what he was thinking. "No way," she said. "It's illegal."

"Since when do you follow the law?"

"When did I ever not?"

"These days, just being a mutant is against the law…but seriously, there's nothing stopping us. 1. Who would know it was us? 2. How do you know this car doesn't belong to someone like Duncan Matthews, who deserves to get his car stolen? And 3. I really wanna do it!"

She looked at the car. It was pretty. And there was a possibility that it was Duncan's. In that case, it was her civic duty to steal it. _What kind of logic is that? Oh, who cares?_

"All right. Go ahead."

"Really?" Pietro definitely wasn't expecting that. "Okay!" He raced around to the front seat of the car and started to work.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Kitty asked.

"No, so don't distract me." He answered from underneath the steering wheel. "Ow!"

"What happened?"

"Nothing. Just a small electric shock."

"Are you okay?"

"I will be once you stop distracting me."

Kitty huffed. "Fine then." She sat on the hood of the car, praying that no one saw them. Some one did once walk out of the school, but they went in the other direction, leaving the mutants safe.

"Are you almost done?"

"…"

"Pietro?"

"…"

"Pietro, answer me!" she banged her fist on the hood and the engine started. "Wha…?"

"I did it!" He squirmed out from the small space under the steering wheel and sat up in the front seat. "Ha, ha, ha! I rule!"

"How did you…?"

"Car Hotwiring for Dummies."

"What is with you and those books?"

Pietro shrugged. "I've got too much time on my hands and it's ticking away at my sanity." He smiled. "I've got too much time on my hands…"

"Can you believe such a calamity?" They both looked at each other. Then they broke out into song. "I've got too much clap, clap time on my hands and it's ticking away, ticking away from me!"

They looked up and saw a student staring at them from the sidewalk. The three of them just kept staring until Pietro yelled, "Second verse, same as the first!" The student quickly ran off before they could start singing again. Kitty laughed. "Are we that bad?"

"Worse." They both started laughing. After a few minutes, Kitty wiped a tear from her eyes and said, "We'd better get going." Pietro agreed and they drove away from the school.

While on the road, Kitty asked, "So where are we going?"

"I already told you, it's a surprise."

"Come on! I'm not going to jump out of the car, promise."

Pietro thought about it. She had a point. Even if she didn't like where they were going (which he doubted) she couldn't just phase out of a moving vehicle. But still…"You'll see when we get there."

Kitty sighed. "I guess…but why won't you tell me?"

He shrugged. "I don't feel like it. Why won't you leave it alone?"

"What else is there to talk about?"

"Plenty."

"Go ahead, then."

"All right…let's see…there's current events, the weather, television, sports…or we could just get to know each other better. Tell me about yourself."

"How about you tell me about yourself."

"Fine. I'm a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. My mutant power is super speed. My father is Magneto. My favorite…"

"Wait, Magneto's your dad?"

"You didn't know?"

"Well, I'd heard rumors, but who knows what to believe. Wow! What's that like?"

"How am I supposed to know? It's not like he came to all my tee-ball games. I mean, it's Magneto."

"Yeah, but still…he's your dad. And he's in charge of the Brotherhood so you've got to talk to him sometimes."

"I guess so…can we change the subject? What about your dad?"

"My dad's completely average. My mom is too. In fact, they're kind of dull."

"So the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh?"

"Hey! I'm not dull! ...am I?"

He looked at her. "Do you really want me to answer that question?"

"No…"

There was an awkward silence then. Kitty hated awkward silences. She was definintley not the loudest person, but, living at the mansion, other people were normally loud enough for her. She had gotten used to the noise. _Like, why doesn't he say something? He usually never shuts up._ She looked over at Pietro. He seemed to be concentrating very hard on the road. _I've got to say something, this_ _is driving me insane!_

"Are we there yet?"

Pietro smiled, still not taking his eyes off the road. "Don't even start…"

"What? Am I annoying you?"

"Yes."

"Oh…Are we there yet?"

"Stop it! I'm the only person allowed to be annoying."

"Says who?"

"The president of the United Sates."

"What?"

Pietro, still trying to keep his eyes on the read, leaned over Kitty and reached into the glove-compartment. He pulled out a white sheet of paper and handed it to her. She read, "This document officially decrees that Pietro Maximoff is the Most Annoying Person in the country and, therefore, holds all of the rights related to the title. Signed: the President of the United States of America."

She lowered the paper onto her lap and stared straight ahead. "Okay, three questions. 1) Where did you get this?"

"A shady figure named Bob Smith who I met in a dark alley."

"…Now that opens up a lot more questions, but I'm going to stick to the original three. Why do you keep it in the glove-box of Lance's jeep?"

"Well it's not like I have my own jeep to keep it in!"

"…All right, and lastly, the president's name is spelled wrong."

They only way Pietro could think to answer that was, "That's not a question."

"It's more of a concern…"

He snatched the paper away from her and said, "You can't look at every little, unimportant detail. You've gotta see the big picture."

"Which is?"

"That I, being the Most Annoying Person in the Country, own the rights to the term: Are we there yet? Besides, we are."

Kitty looked. They had pulled into the parking lot of what a sign nearby said was Bayville Park.

"Why are we here?"

Pietro got out of the car. "You ask too many questions."

"And you barely answer them." Kitty got out too. She began too scan the area when Pietro's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller id. "I've gotta take this."

Kitty watched him walk away for a minute, then she turned to the park in front of her. At first glance she had thought that it looked nice, but now that she could see it up close she realized that it was very ill-kept. There were weeds growing over the sidewalks, the nearby basketball courts were missing the nets in the hoops, and a few yards away there was a broken down swing set. _Why did he_ _bring me here?_

Pietro sat down on a bench out of earshot from Kitty. "Where are you?"

"I'm sorry," the instructor answered on the other side of the phone. "I couldn't get away from dance lessons. Man, those kids suck! Did you get Miss Pryde to accompany you there?"

"Yes."

"Without resorting to any form of kidnapping?"

"Yes." He answered; annoyed that she would accuse him of such a thing. Then he remembered that he had seriously considered it.

"All right. I'll be there in a minute, and you two had better be dancing when I arrive!"

AN: Please review! I beg of you! I actually sent someone an email, practically begging them to review my story, that's how desperate I am! Sorry by the way, to speed demon rox (I forget if that's how you spell your name or not).


	8. Well, that was random

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **Someone pointed out a very big mistake on my part in chapter 7. When Pietro pulled out the document stating that he is the most annoying person in the world, Kitty asked why he kept it in Lance's jeep. When, in reality, they were in the stolen car at the time. I am very sorry about that, but there's nothing I can do to change it. Or, at least, I don't feel like it. I do thank BleuSkye very much for pointing that out. That's what the reviews are there for, to point out all of my stupid mistakes (or you could just tell me how wonderful I am!) I am sorry if anyone was confused about that, but they were in the hotwired car. They never switched cars, but in my mind they did. Uh…once again, I'm sorry… Enjoy the chapter!

**PS:** Random words were used in this chapter! Yay!

**DISCLAIMER: **I own **NOTHING!** Except for the instructor, which I still haven't gotten around to telling you her name. I promise I'll try and work it into the next chapter…maybe.

Chapter 8

"Well that was a little random…"

"Fine." Pietro hung up the phone. How could he get her to dance with him? Well, he had gotten her up here, that's proof that anything is possible. But why was he doing this again? _Oh right_, he thought. _To prove that I'm the better dancer. Wow, I'm really competitive! Is it still healthy competition, or have I reached a point where I should seek professional help? Hmm… Nah!_

He stood up and walked back to the X-Man who smiled at him. "Who was it?"

"Uhhh…" He had to come up with an excuse, and fast! Luckily, fast was his middle name (even though it actually isn't). "Just Lance checking up on me. He worries, you know?"

"You two really are good friends, huh?" Kitty asked, wondering if Lance had told Pietro anything about when they used to date.

"He's my bestest friend in the whole wide world…and I bug him to the brink of insanity." His eyes darted around the park, looking for a reason to break out into dance.

"Pietro," Kitty started. "Why are we here? I know you're sick of hearing me ask, but I'll stop once you tell me."

He gave up and looked at her. Her eyes seemed to be begging him for just a hint of a reason. He began to think how much fun it would be to still not tell her, but mad Kitty's don't like to dance with laughing Pietro's and he couldn't have that. "Look around," he said waving his arm in an arc. "What do you see?"

She looked. "Absolutely nothing."

"Exactly. No one comes here. I figured you'd appreciate the serenity. Besides, I know you don't want to risk the chance of your little X-Geek friends seeing you with me."

Kitty didn't like the way that sounded. "Let them see. What have I got to hide? We're just…hanging out together. Like any two, normal teenagers. Just because we happen to be mortal enemies doesn't mean we can't talk to each other, right?"

Pietro laughed. Her sense of logic was so whacky that he doubted it made sense to even her. But he nodded and said, "You're right. But still, it's best that they don't see us. I don't know about you, but I'd get an earful from Lance about 'fraternizing with the enemy'. Even though he's done it about a million times."

Kitty laughed too. She didn't know why. "I understand. Why doesn't anyone come here? I mean, if you were to clean it up a little it seems like a nice place to sit and think."

"Well, there's this old legend. You see that building over there?" He pointed over the trees to a square, stone building sitting on top of a hill. Kitty nodded. "It used to be a shoe making company; one of the finest. But then something happened."

"What?" She was staring at the building and Pietro was standing right behind her. She could feel his breathe on her neck.

"Word got around that the owner was a mutant. All the workers quit, but shoes still kept being made."

"How?"

"That's what the people living in Bayville at the time wanted to find out. So they got together a mob of angry villagers and stormed the factory. But what they found was nothing like what they expected."

"What did they find?" Kitty wasn't so sure that she wanted to know, but she'd be constantly wondering if she didn't.

"Inside the factory, were thousands of spiders…making shoes."

She turned around to face him. "What? That's not even scary! I don't believe it really happened and I don't know why anyone would."

He sighed. "Would you let me finish? The owner's mutant powers were that he could control spiders, which, if you asked me, is a very lame power. He brainwashed the spiders into working for him so that he could keep his business running. But then the roaches came and wanted to rule the shoemaking empire it had taken him a lifetime to build. She he had the spiders make these really big shoes that they could control from the inside to kill the roaches. A war broke out and, in the end, the spiders won, but not before the people of Bayville told the police what was going on and the owner was sent to a nice, padded room. That's how the term 'roach killers' came about."

Kitty stared at him and blinked twice. Many words came to mind, but she went with the one she seemed to use most around Pietro. "**_What?_** That makes absolutely no sense! It doesn't even explain why people stopped coming here! All it did was waste my time. In fact, I think I'm stupider just because I listened to that story!"

"Hey! How am I supposed to know why people stopped coming here? I made it up, okay! And I thought that it was a very interesting story. It had a beginning that made you want to keep listening, a surprise twist in the middle, and a happy ending. What was wrong with it?"

Kitty held her head in her hand. "Nothing, Pietro. It was the greatest story I ever heard in my entire life…"

"Thank you. I enjoyed telling it. Now, would you like to dance?"

Kitty looked up. "What?" (See, that word just keeps popping up! But it's not like there's another word to replace it with…)

"I said: would you like to dance?" Pietro had no idea what he was doing. The words just sort of came out and he couldn't take them back now.

"Well that was a little random… Why?"

"I don't know. I feel like dancing. Don't you?"

Kitty shrugged. She actually did want to dance with him. She had ever since that crazy dream. But of course she couldn't let him know that! "What would we dance to? No music."

Pietro realized that. He began to search the deserted park, yet again, to no avail. That is, until he spotted the car. "Aha!" He said. Then he raced over and turned on the radio. Pop music blasted through speakers and broke the serene silence that had once covered the area. The speed demon quickly changed the station and Kitty raised her eyebrows.

"Since when do you listen to classical music?" she asked.

"As long as I can remember," he lied and held out a hand to her. "Do you know how to foxtrot?"

She giggled, accepted his hand, and answered, "Fox-trotting for Dummies."

He smiled as they began to move in time to the music. "Aren't they great books?"

OoooooooooooooooooO

The instructor was definitely not having a good day. First she had woken up, only to remember that she was out of milk, meaning that her Cocoa Puffs had to sit there all alone while she ate burnt toast. Then she went to work, only to be reminded that kids today have absolutely no respect for art. Then she went to the dance lessons she had agreed to teach, only to realize that the only people who took dance lessons were people who couldn't dance. But then she remembered that there were two, very talented students who actually did have potential, and that she would be meeting with them after lessons had ended.

That's where she was now. She had driven into the parking lot with the sounds of classical music ringing in her ears. She parked in the back and looked at the youngsters she had come to see. They didn't notice her drive up. She knew that if she were to ask either of them why, they'd answer that they were concentrating on their steps, but she could plainly see that, in reality, they were concentrating on each other.

She laughed, remembering her own high school romances and being too shy to tell someone how you feel. It had all seemed so serious back then, and now it seemed so stupid. But she wasn't here for that. She was here to convince theses two of the talent they possessed and get them to enter that dance competition. For both of their sakes. She continued to watch, then looked down at her watch. She had nowhere to be, but they might. So she walked over to the car and turned off the music.

Kitty's head quickly snapped over in that direction and her face turned beet red when she saw the smiling instructor. "Oh! Um, what are you doing here?" She pushed Pietro a few feet away from her and walked toward the car.

"I was in the neighborhood, heard the music." She looked at Pietro. "You're very good dancers. I don't think I need to remind you of that."

Pietro nodded. "Yeah, yeah. We know. But who's better?"

Kitty was shocked. "So that's what this was all about? You and your stupid competitions?"

Pietro looked at her. She seemed angry enough to kill. "No, no, of course not! I just figured, since she's here and all…" He gave her a pleading smile, hoping that it would be enough. Kitty still looked mad, but she didn't smack him or phase his head through the ground like he could tell she wanted to. She simply turned around and said to the instructor, "So? Who won?"

The instructor smiled. "Neither."

"What?" They both said in unison.

"Neither of you won, but you could."

"How?" Pietro's competitive streak began to grow at the thought of winning.

"Well, that competition I told you about. The judges would be better able to tell. Besides, if you entered that, you'd be beating more than just one person. Hundreds, maybe! Plus you'd get a much better prize. What do you say?"

Pietro thought about it. It only took a second. "I'm in!" He shook her hand and asked, "Where do I sign up?"

The instructor, surprised that it had actually worked, said, "I'll show you in a minute." The she turned to Kitty, who was still thinking. "Well?"

"Well…Kurt…"

"I saw him in my Art class today. I asked if he was coming to dance lessons today and he ran out of the room. I'm not sure he's quite up to this."

Kitty continued to think. "What's the prize?"

"First place is a week-long Caribbean Cruise."

Her eyes lit up at the thought of the ocean and the breeze. "All right, I'm in too."

The instructor smiled broadly. "Wonderful! Now, if you'll just follow me, we can get you two signed up today."

They all got into her car. "You're just going to leave your car here for the night?"

Kitty and Pietro looked at each other. "Uh…sure. Why not?" Pietro said. "I doubt anyone would steal it."


	9. I figured we'd just freestyle

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **I'm sure it could be longer, all of my chapters could be. But I like this one. Not much happens, but I think it's entertaining. I'm going away for the three-day weekend and I'm not sure if I'm going to have access to a computer so I decided to write this really quickly and post it so that you had something to enjoy.

What now? Oh! **REVIEW!**

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing except for the instructor. Ha! I named her! Thank you BleuSkye! I like Sara but I like the other name better. As for the last name…I was eating ice cream when I wrote it.

Chapter 9

Pietro stared out the car window. It had begun to rain and the sky was dark and gloomy. He wondered what time it was. "Hey, Kitty, won't the X-Geeks worry where you've run off to?"

She bit her lower lip. "You're right. I should probably call them…" Before she could even remember that she had left her phone in her school locker, Pietro had his out and ready. "Oh! Thanks."

"Don't mention it," he said and turned back to the window. Kitty sat and listened to the ringing as she started to wonder why Pietro had cared that they'd be worried. _Wouldn't he want to make them more worried? But maybe…maybe he didn't want me to get into trouble? No way! He was probably just having a brief moment of decency. I'm sure it will wear off soon._ Her gaze lingered over toward the speed demon. Then a voice rang through the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Scott."

"Kitty, where are you? Rogue told us you were staying after school to work on a project, but it's getting kind of late."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just…" she thought over all that had happened that afternoon. "Things went a little unexpectedly."

"All right…are you coming home now?"

"Almost, first I have to…" she realized that she couldn't tell him the truth. At least, not until she had sorted everything out and found a way around explaining the whole 'dancing with the enemy' thing. She looked at Pietro, her eyes begging for help.

Either the volume on the phone was too high, or Scott just spoke very loudly; whichever it was, Pietro could hear the entire conversation perfectly, and he had been listening the entire time. He got the message that Kitty needed help and started to signal to her that she should say she had to first buy a pencil. It was a very simple excuse, but very hard to signal.

"First I have to…dye my hair? What? Oh, 'buy'! I've got to **buy**…film. No! A lamp. No, that's not it. A Dalmatian?"

Pietro was sick of this. "A PENCIL!" he yelled.

"Oh! A pencil! Yeah, I've got to buy a pencil, and then I'm coming right home, okay? Bye." She hung up before Scott could ask her who the screaming person was. Then she handed the phone back to Pietro.

He smiled. "That went well."

"I'm going to have to explain this whole situation to them eventually…but I really don't want to!"

"What, are you embarrassed by me?"

"Yes."

The instructor looked at them from the rear-view mirror and smiled to herself. She had to admit that they could be entertaining at times. Pietro saw her and asked something that he had been wondering for a while now, "Hey, how come you care whether or not we join this stupid competition anyway? I mean, it's not like you get to go on the cruise too…right?"

The instructor looked back at the road and replied, "No, Mr. Maximoff, I wouldn't get to go on the cruise, but I would win something. You see, I used to be a dancer. I was as good as two are now."

"You wish," Pietro mumbled. Kitty hit him in the arm and told the instructor to go on.

"Well, I was…in an accident. I won't go into any of the gory details. Let's just say that my dancing has never been the same. It was then that I realized that I was stuck. I couldn't become a professional dancer like I had always wanted to, and the only other subject I knew anything about was art. You know how the saying goes: 'If you can't do, than teach.' I suppose you can pretty much fill in the rest on your own."

Kitty let the story sink in for a minute, then asked, "But what does that have to do with us? And if you were such a good dancer, than why didn't you just teach that?"

"Oh, I suppose I left that part out. Well, before I started to teach art, my dream was to open up my own school of dance, but I soon realized I could no sooner open my own house of pancakes."

"Why not?" Kitty asked.

"Well, it's like someone who has never played baseball a day in their life deciding to go into the Major League."

"But you were a great dancer before."

"Yes, but no one knew. I got hurt before I had a chance to make a name for myself. Why would anyone come to my class when I had no references to speak of? For all they knew, I could just be making up everything I say I know about dancing. That's why I volunteered to teach the dance lessons at Bayville High. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to get some experience under my belt."

"Then you saw us, and figured that we were your ticket to the top." Kitty was very pleased with herself and the fact that she had been able to figure it out, unlike Pietro who sat next to her, clueless.

"Wait," he said. "You used us?"

The instructor frowned. "I know I sound horrible, but you guys win too, remember? It's just…when I saw you dancing in the corridor, and all that talent you possessed, I could so easily picture you accepting that first place trophy. And when they ask you, "Where did you learn to dance like that?" you answer, "We had the greatest teacher of all: Miss Trixie Breyer."

There was a moment of silence as she once again pictured her moment of glory; however it as rudely interrupted when Kitty burst out laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha! You're name is Trixie!"

"Yes, what's so funny about that?" she looked at them through the mirror again and saw Pietro glaring at Kitty with a need for revenge burning in his eyes.

For the next full 5 minutes, Kitty kept laughing and Pietro kept glaring until the car pulled into a parking space in front of a small building and Trixie turned around to say to them in her teacher voice, "One more giggle out of you, Ms. Pryde, and it's detention for a week."

Kitty immediately stopped laughing and Pietro smiled, satisfied. "Now, we're all going to be mature adults and not fool around in here, right?" The two high school students nodded. "Good. Now come on. Let's go sign up for that dance competition!"

They all got out of the car and walked into the building. Trixie went straight to the desk in the middle of the room and began to speak to the lady standing behind it while Pietro flipped through some pamphlets and kept showing Kitty the disgusting pictures of the tongues of people who smoke.

After a few minutes, just when a totally grossed out Kitty didn't think that she could take it anymore, Trixie walked toward the dancers and handed them each a form and said, "Fill these out." Pietro did so in a bout 2 seconds and then felt the need to help Kitty with hers. He checked that she had every disease listed and was born in the year 1500…B.C.

"Hey! Ms. Breyer, Pietro's bugging me!"

The instructor gladly turned away from the very boring conversation that she had been having with the very uninteresting lady behind the desk and said, "Pietro, stop bugging Kitty! And Kitty, you don't have to be so formal. Away from school, you're more than welcome to call me Trixie."

Kitty giggled and said, "Thank you, **Trixie**."

Pietro crossed his arms over his chest and stuck his tongue out at Kitty. She stuck out hers in return, then crossed the room and handed in her form.

"Okay," the lady said, "Now we just have to add your names to the list and you'll be all signed up." She pulled out a clip board with a pile of papers attached to it. She opened to somewhere in the middle of the pile and scanned the row until she saw the first vacant spot. Kitty's eyes widened when she saw all of the people who had already signed up. Could she really beat them all?

"All right, let's see…" The lady said their names as she wrote them on the paper. "Katherine Pryde…and Pietro Maximoff." She looked up at them and smiled. "You're all set."

"Wonderful," Trixie said and then walked out of the building with the two new contestants.

She drove them each home and when they reached the first stop which was the Boarding house for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, she said, "I'll see you tomorrow for your dance lessons."

"What?" Pietro asked as he got out of the car. "I still have to go to that?"

"Of course, we have to work on how you two are going to dance for the first part of the competition."

"I figured we'd just freestyle…"

"No," Trixie said stubbornly.

Pietro got out of the car and walked into the house. Lance was sitting at the kitchen table and watched him come in. "Where have you been?" he asked.

Pietro couldn't think of a good excuse in enough time so he just got very defensive and said, "I certainly haven't been dancing!" Then he ran up to his room and slammed the door.

Lance shook his head and went back to planning his party.

**AN:** Hope you like it, and I hope that you have a great Columbus Day! **REVIEW!**


	10. I'm bringin' sexy back

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **Yay!!!! October 14th is my Birthday!!!!!! Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!!!!! As a gift, you should all review my story! I'm so happy with this chapter. Nothing really_happens_per say, but it leads up to a lot of things happening. I've already got the next chapter pretty much planned in my head, so it shouldn't take too long to write it. Enjoy this one, **_REVIEW_**, and tell me Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing except for Trixie Breyer!

Chapter 10

"I'm bringin' sexy back…"

When Kitty got home, she found Kurt in the living room watching TV. He smiled at her and she guessed that he was back to normal. "Hi."

"Hey Kitty."

"Um…so what's up?"

"Not much."

"You feeling better?"

"Ja."

"Good. What was it? I mean, what made you feel better?"

Kurt bent down and picked up a large, empty fast-food bag. "Rogue took me to Uncle Bill's Burger Hut." Kitty giggled and sat down next to him. They watched t.v. in silence for a few minutes as Kitty argued within herself.

_He's my friend, he deserves to know. I don't even have to tell him that I'm dancing with Pietro, just that I'm going to be in the competition. I'd want him to tell me. He was so looking forward to this. How am I supposed to tell him that instead of him, my friend and teammate, I'm joining with Pietro Maximoff? It's impossible! Plus, mentioning the word 'dance' might set him off again, and who knows how many burgers it would take to get him back to normal again? _

She looked over at him and saw that he was looking at her with a very worried face. She gave him a comforting smile. "You okay?"

"Yes. It's just…" he stopped.

"Go on. You can tell me."

"Kitty, remember when I asked you to join the da… the competition with me?"

"Three days ago? Yeah, I remember."

"Vell…" he looked down at his hands. "I have decided zhat it vould be in the best interest of my mental health if I stayed away from da… da… you know what I mean. At least for the time being. I'm very sorry, Kitty. I know how much you vanted to compete, but I just don't think zhat I'm up to it." He looked at her. "Are you angry?"

Kitty couldn't believe it. He had given her the perfect escape. She was a happy that she could have kissed him, but she didn't because that would have been awkward. Plus, he was too fuzzy…

"Kurt, I'm not mad at all! I mean, I completely understand where you're coming from. You've had a traumatic experience and you need time to recover, even though you still won't tell me what that experience was…"

Kurt shivered. "Ugh! And I don't think zhat I ever vill."

"Either way, it's perfectly acceptable if you don't feel up to dancing. I can always find a new partner."

"Really?"

"Really. You don't have to worry, Kurt, and you definitely don't have to feel bad."

Kurt was simply shocked. That had gone much better than he thought it would. "Thanks, Kitty!" he said, and teleported out of the room.

Kitty leaned back into the couch and smiled to herself. It had all turned out perfectly…

"Kitty!"

She jumped at the sound of Scott's voice. It was then that she remembered the pencil fiasco.

"Kitty! Where are you?"

She dashed off the couch and up the stairs to her and Rogue's room. Then she slammed the door shut, jumped into bed, and pulled the covers over her head. Rogue, who was reading on her own bed, just shook her head.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next day at school was just like any other. It was Kitty's lunch period and she was dreading her next class, as usual (who doesn't hate the class after lunch?) She pulled out her notebook and began to search through her notes because, with her luck, she'd wind up having a pop quiz that day. As she opened her book a paper fell out. She picked it up and realized that it was the information about the dance competition.

Kitty had only read the first line when she was interrupted. "Hey Kitty."

She looked up and saw an all too familiar face. "Hi Lance."

Lance sat down next to her. They were outside, underneath a large oak tree that gave them just enough shade. "What are you doing out here?"

"Just…thinking. You know, keeping to myself." She was trying to hint to him that she wanted to be alone, but he wasn't catching on.

"So…um…did you happen to see Pietro yesterday?"

Kitty was very taken aback by this question and Lance definitely noticed. "I was just asking because he came home later than usual yesterday and he wouldn't tell me anything. I asked all of the X-Men, well at least the ones who would talk to me. I figured you guys would know if he got into any trouble. Don't you have a police scanner in that mansion of yours?"

Kitty began to calm down. "No, we don't. What gave you that idea?"

"Well, you're always there whenever a crime is committed…"

"That's because we have such wonderful timing."

"Oh, of course…so did you see him?"

"No," Kitty quickly lied. "I haven't. Sorry."

"All right then. I guess I'll see you around." As he turned to walk away a piece of paper fell from one of the books he was carrying. Kitty picked it up. "Lance, wait! You dropped your…" she looked at it. "…party flyer? What's this about?"

He swiftly snatched it away from her. "That's nothing!"

"It is not. Let me see it again."

"No!" He held it above his head so that she couldn't reach it.

Kitty let out a very annoyed huff and crossed her arms. "Fine then, I guess you just don't want to invite me to your super-secret party. That's okay. I understand…" She pouted and made a face that looked like she was about to cry. Lance couldn't hold out long, no one with a heart could.

"Fine, here you go."

Kitty excitedly clapped her hands as she bounced up and down waiting for him to give her the flyer. When he finally did, she read it over hungrily.

"Wow, it's in a warehouse?"

"Yeah, I thought it'd be cool."

"Well it certainly sounds cool. The address looks familiar, but I can't remember where I heard it before… I'm sure it will come to me. Oh, it's on Friday the 13th?"

"Uh-huh. I figured it would be a fun sort of theme thing. Do you like it?"

"I think that it's a great idea, but I'm busy that day."

"Oh. What are you doing?"

Kitty tried to think of a good excuse. She had just read on her Dance Competition Information Sheet that that was the first day of the competition. Unfortunately, she sucked at making up excuses. "Well, I'm certainly not dancing, that's for sure!" She shoved the flyer into Lance's hands and ran off.

He was, naturally, confused. He expected this kind of behavior from Pietro, not normally-sane Kitty. The bell rang and he didn't have enough time to think more on the subject. All he could do was cross out the date and rewrite 'Saturday the 14th'.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Do you have any idea on the idea of dance you're going to do?" the instructor asked. She, Kitty, and Pietro were back at Bayville Park, prepping for the competition. Both dancers agreed that this was the best place to practice because of the privacy they would get. They didn't need a member of the Brotherhood or an X-Man spotting them. Trixie agreed because it was close to her house.

"Not really," Kitty said, answering the question. "I know lots of dances, but I'd also like to learn some new ones."

Trixie shook her head. "I'm afraid there's no time for that right now. You guys signed up kind of late. Maybe you can learn a new dance for the next stage of the competition."

"If we get there," Pietro added.

"I'm confident you will. Now come on, we need a dance!"

Kitty thought. "We could foxtrot. We both know how…"

"Yes, and you can do it well too. All right then, you shall foxtrot. Now we need a song…"

"Can it be a cool song?" Pietro asked. "I mean, the past few times we've dance together it's been to classical music. I'd like something a bit more modern."

"Classical music is art," Trixie argued. "But I understand if you don't appreciate it. Do you have any suggestions?"

Pietro smiled broadly and stood up on the bench he had been sitting on. "Why don't we dance to that new Justin Timberlake song?" Then he began to sing. "I'm bringin' sexy back…" He began to dance as well, but the old bench couldn't take that kind of abuse and caved in underneath him. Kitty, who was sitting next to Trixie on a perfectly stable bench opposite of him, began to laugh. Even Trixie let through a smile. Pietro quickly stood up, brushed himself off, and glared at Kitty. She stopped laughing, but you could tell that she was cracking up on the inside.

"I'm not sure if that particular song would be appropriate. What about you Kitty? Do you have any songs in mind that you'd like to use?"

Kitty only shook her head 'no'. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth she would start laughing again and she'd never be able to stop.

Trixie sighed. "I'll think of something. I'd like it if the song somehow represented the two of you…" Pietro had begun to poke Kitty and to get back at him she stood on the bench and reenacted his fall. "…but that might be difficult."


	11. Only the Good die Young

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **Ha, ha, ha! I got a laptop for my birthday! YaY for me! I'm not writing this on it, though because it isn't hooked up to the internet yet, but it will be, and then I'll be unstoppable! Mwa, ha, ha, ha, ha! (Evil laugh). But seriously, this chapter is **SO** long. I just kept writing, plus the song lyrics took up a lot of space. The song I chose always reminds me of Kietro. It's a great song and you should all know it, but if you don't than don't worry because it doesn't ruin the chapter for you, it's basically just used as a transition from one scene to the next. I hope you all like this (I really think that you will, but even if you hate it, **_REVIEW!_** (just don't be too harsh, please!)).

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing and I'm getting very tired ofwriting that!

Chapter 11

Only the Good die Young

The next day, Trixie let Kitty and Pietro listen to the song she had chosen. Neither of them were very sure about it. "But I'm Jewish," Kitty argued when it had ended.

Trixie simply waved her hand in dismissal. "It doesn't matter. The song works for you."

The dancers were surprised that this was how Trixie saw them, but neither said anything. When they started to practice their dance they found that the song really did make it more enjoyable. They began to really look forward to the first competition…then it came.

Kitty had been so excited. She found the perfect dress that eerily reminded her of her dream and twirled just right when she spun around. She hadn't managed to avoid Scott, however, but when they did run into each other in the hallway, he didn't mention pencils or Dalmatians. Kitty guessed that Jean had said something like, "She'll tell us when she's ready," to him and Kitty was, for the first time, happy to see the power she had over him.

Pietro was excited too. He sometimes found himself dancing alone in his room or humming Trixie's song of choice during the day. When Kitty showed him her dress he thought it was perfect and looked great on her, but his attitude toward it quickly changed once she told him that his outfit had to match hers. He nearly screamed when he saw the pink button-up shirt she had picked for him.

"I am not wearing that!"

"But pink is manly," Kitty had said, even though she knew he wouldn't buy that.

"I am not wearing that!"

"But it'll be fun!"

"Maybe for all of the people who will be laughing at me."

Kitty sighed. "I tried to get you to do it voluntarily, but you've given me no choice…"

It's funny, the things that people will agree to when their head is phased through a wall. So Pietro wore the pink shirt with a pair of his own black pants. _It's not like anyone I know will see me._

Oh, ye of little faith.

Pietro had just run to the hall where the competition was taking place. It only took him about 5 seconds to get there. Kitty, however, needed a ride, and the only one she could get was none other than leader of the X-Men, Scott Summers himself.

Scott behaved himself, though, and didn't ask any unwanted questions, Jean's words apparently still in his mind (most likely thanks to telepathy). However, to Kitty's dismay, they couldn't go the entire car ride without talking.

"I think it's good," Scott started. "that you're dancing. I mean, you seemed kind of stressed before, but now you're much happier."

"Am I?" Kitty asked, surprised that she hadn't noticed this change in herself. "Well, I certainly feel happy. Dancing really is a great form of release. It relaxes me and also lets out a lot of extra energy and anger."

"Anger? What are you angry about?"

"Everyone gets angry, Scott. You'd be very hard put to find someone who doesn't."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

Kitty sighed. "Everything, I guess. I'm angry at humans for hating me without even knowing me. I'm angry at Magneto for deciding to start this stupid war. I'm even angry at the X-Men for thinking that they have the right to meddle in everyone else's lives, whether it be enemies or…or teammates." She tried to calm herself down. She had gotten a little worked up just then. Scott noticed.

"If we 'meddle' it's only because we care."

Kitty looked at the floor. "I know, but sometimes it seems like life would be a lot easier if everyone wasn't constantly trying to protect me."

The conversation ended on that note because they had reached their destination. Kitty got out of the car and Scott reminded her what time he was going to pick her up. Then he drove away, back toward the mansion. And, as Kitty stood there, alone, with the hugest butterflies in the world fluttering around in her stomach, she sort of wished she was going with him.

She turned around and found Pietro racing toward her. "Where have you been?" he asked.

Kitty looked at her wrist and remembered that she took off her watch because it didn't match the dress, but still answered, "What are you talking about? I'm right on time."

"No, you're not. Apparently there's been a huge change of plans. Come with me, I'll explain on they way." She followed him into the large building which was a mess of dressed-up people trying to figure out where they were supposed to go.

"You know this competition we signed up for? Well, apparently there's one tiny detail Miss Trixie forgot to mention."

He led her to an open room that was obviously supposed to be where the contestants were going to dance. Everything seemed normal, then Kitty noticed the 6 cameras that were being set up on the edges of the dance floor. "What are those?"

"They are the cameras that are going to be videotaping us…for the television show we're on!"

"Television show? **What television show!"**

"That's what I've been trying to figure out for the past half hour! So far, this is what I've got; the show is called 'Dance On!' It gets couples from all over the country, with completely different personalities and dancing styles to compete for the grand prize, which is not only the cruise but also 'eternal dancing glory' (which, by the way, I really want). Each week, the viewers vote on who they want to stay and who they want to go. And the show is filmed live!"

"Oy! This is not good!"

"You're telling me! Now the entire country is going to see me in this stupid shirt!"

It was then that it hit her. "The entire country. That includes…"

The X-Men were all in the living room, except for Scott because he had to drop off Kitty. Rogue and Evan were fighting for the remote.

"Come on, Porcupine! Ah wanna watch that Dracula movie!"

"No way! We're watching the X-Games!"

They each continued to pull their end of the remote until it looked like they were going to tear it in half. It was then that Jean intervened. "That's enough!" She telekinetically ripped it out of their hands and dropped it into a three-fingered one. "It's Kurt's turn to pick a show."

"Oh!" Kurt looked at the remote. "I don't really care vhat ve watch."

"All right then," Evan said and reached for the channel-changing device. Rogue pulled him back. "Ah'd rather watch a show that Kurt picks than the lame X-Games."

"Go on, Kurt," Jean said. "Weren't you just talking about a new show you were looking forward to watching?"

"Yes, but…I'm not sure if I'm ready…"

"Oh, please!" Rogue complained. "This isn't about your new found fear of dancing, is it?"

"Vell…"

"The only way ya'll are evah gonna get over this fear is if ya face it head on."

Kurt gripped the remote tighter. "You're right," he said and changed the channel while Evan moaned.

"Tonight," the t.v. host said, "is the beginning of some gifted dancers' career. We've gathered 15 couples from across the nation and brought them here to the wholesome town of Bayville, New York to compete against one another for eternal dancing glory! Ladies and gentlemen, this is '**Dance On**!'"

"What's this?" Toad asked at the Brotherhood house when he walked into the living room and saw Freddy and Lance watching an unknown t.v. show.

"It's called 'Dance On!'" Freddy answered. "Why don't you watch it with us? It seems kind of interesting, plus it's fun to make fun of all the losers."

Todd sat down on an old lazy-boy chair and did so. "Where's Pietro?" he asked after a few silent moments had passed.

Lance shrugged. "He ran off somewhere. All he would say was that he wasn't dancing."

Todd kept watching the television. A couple from Texas was dancing. He laughed when he noticed that the man, Will, was wearing overalls and the woman, Peggy, was wearing a checkered dress. Then his jaw dropped when the picture changed to a familiar white-haired boy, and the words at the bottom of the screen read 'up next'.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Pietro saw the camera and smiled at it before walking away to find Kitty, who had gone to get a drink of water. He soon found her with Trixie. "You've got some explainin' to do!" he said and she frowned.

"I didn't know, honestly! This entire television thing happened recently. I just found out about it this morning!"

"Then how come I didn't find out until I got here?" Kitty asked.

"Well, I figured you wouldn't come if I told you."

"I've got half a mind to leave right now!" Pietro said.

"But if you left, you'd be giving up! And quitters never win. Don't you want to win? They both nodded. "Good, because you're going to. Now you two go to the ballroom, you're next. I'm going to go and make sure the music is ready."

She walked through the dense crowd to the audio room where she and the sound guy checked that everything was set. "This is an odd song to foxtrot to," the sound guy said.

"They're an odd couple," Trixie answered and watched her dancers on the monitor as they walked onto the dance floor.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kitty's heart was racing, and she could feel her face growing bright red. The entire country was watching her. What happens if she falls? Should she get up, or just lay there because she knew she wouldn't be able to handle the humiliation.

Then Pietro grabbed her hand. It was icky and sweaty, which made Kitty smile. Pietro always seemed like the type of person who never got nervous and didn't fear embarrassment, but then she realized that that type of person didn't exist. Pietro was the most confident, arrogant, and the fastest person alive, but all that did was make his heart race ten times faster than hers.

Then the music started, the two faced each other, and everything else, the people, the cameras, the blinding lights, just seemed to disappear. All that was left was two people who simply loved to dance. And then came the song that had reminded Trixie so much of them.

_Come out, Virginia, don't let me wait_

_You catholic girls start much too late_

_Oh, but sooner or later it comes down to fate _

_I might as well be the one_

_Well they showed you a statue, told you to pray_

_They built you a temple and locked you away_

_Oh, but they never told you the price that you'd pay_

_For things that you might have done_

_Only the good die young, that's what I said_

All of the X-Men sat bolt up-right and were glued to the t.v. Was that…? No, it couldn't be. But yes, it was! Innocent, perky Kitty, their friend and fellow crime fighter, was on television, dancing with the self-centered, egotistical Pietro Maximoff, the son of their most dangerous enemy! Wasn't this a sign of the Apocalypse?

They were all frozen, unsure of what to do or say. Then they heard the front door close as Scott walked in the house. They all jumped to stop him from entering the living room or block his view of the t.v., but they were too late. He just stood there for a second, his face completely expressionless. The others could only guess what he was thinking, but they all knew that Pietro wouldn't live long.

_Only the good die young,_

_Only the good die young_

Out of nowhere, Scott turned around and stormed out of the mansion. The rest of the X-Men heard him starting his car and driving off. Then they gave each other knowing glances and went back to watching Kitty dance.

_You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd_

_We ain't too pretty, we ain't too proud_

_We might be laughing a bit too loud_

_Oh, but that never hurt no one_

_So come on, Virginia show me a sign_

_Send up a signal, I'll throw you the line_

_The stained glass curtain you're hiding behind_

_Never lets in the sun_

_Darlin' only the good die young_

The Brotherhood was dead silent…but not for long. It quickly turned into hysterical laughter. At least, Todd and Freddy were laughing. Lance was silent for much longer than they were, he was still in shock. But that shock eventually turned faded away and all that was left was anger. Perhaps anger that sprung from…jealousy? Hmm…

_I tell ya, only the good die young,_

_Only the good die young_

Lance stood up and walked outside, each step another earthquake that threatened to topple the house down. He got in his car and drove away. Todd and Fred didn't know what to think. Lance was angry and he was going to do yelling, but at who? He could yell at Kitty for making his friend wear that stupid pink shirt on national television, but they both knew that he never yell at Kitty. He could yell at Pietro for dancing with her, but then everyone would think that he was jealous. He certainly wasn't going to yell at himself, but who was left? The two mutants simple shrugged and turned back to the t.v., glad that he had left and couldn't yell at them.

_You got a nice white dress and a party on your conformation_

_You got a brand new soul_

_Ooh and a cross of gold_

_But Virginia they didn't give you quite enough information_

_You didn't count on me_

_When you were counting on your rosary, oh whoa oh_

_And they say there's a heaven, for those who will wait_

_Some say it's better, but I say it ain't_

_I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints_

'_cause sinners are just more fun_

_You know that only the good die young_

_Only the good die young_

Kitty and Pietro were having the time of their lives. It was as if nothing else mattered, only dancing. It didn't matter that Pietro had a test tomorrow he didn't study for or that Kitty had to run a mile in gym class. It didn't matter that they were on two different teams and basically two different sides of the world. At that one instant they were free, they were together, and they were happy; much happier than either was expecting to be. But, of course, their happiness had to be taken away because of some crazy war they were each, involuntarily, involved in.

_Said your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation_

_Ooh she never cared for me_

_Did she ever say a prayer for me? Oh whoa oh_

_Come out, come out, come out, Virginia don't let me wait_

_You catholic girls start much too late _

_Sooner or later it comes down to fate_

_I might as well be the one_

_You know that only the good die young_

Scott parked in front of the bustling hall and got out of his convertible. He looked around and saw Lance getting out of his own jeep. Lance noticed Scott too.

_I tell ya only the good die young,_

_Only the good die young_

The two leaders walked over to each other while, inside the building, Kitty and Pietro started their big finale.

_Only the good-_

_Only the good die young_

_Good-_

_Only the good die young_

**AN: **I like leaving people on the edge of their seats.


	12. This is all your fault!

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **Sorry it took so long. Actually, it wasn't all **that** long, but I'm still sorry. I took a break and I think it really helped. But if it didn't who cares? I'm kind of tired right now, so sorry if I sound grouchy. I didn't use any random words. Once again, sorry. All right, I'm done. Nothing else to say. So on to the story!!!!!!!

**DISCLAIMER: **Oh, sorry you've got to make another pit stop on the way to the chapter. I own nothing!!!!!

Chapter 12

"This is all your fault!"

Kitty sat on her bed as she tried to write a letter to her parents. Everything she wrote though, sounded either impersonal or gave away too much information about what was really going on in her life. These were the times that Kitty wished she could talk to her parents. She wished she had one of those really close relationships with her mom where they tell each other everything, but her mutant powers didn't allow that. Her mom loved her, Kitty never doubted that, but sometimes it seemed like she was scared of her own daughter. And, though Kitty was happy with her life and her new family, the fact that she and her biological family weren't very close really hurt.

_Dear mom and dad,_

_Sorry I haven't written in a while, but things have been pretty hectic lately. I got an 'A' on my chemistry paper. I hope that everything is good at home and you guys are healthy and happy. _

She stopped again, and thought about what to write next. She knew she couldn't avoid it, so she figured she'd just come out and say it.

_I am in a dance competition. You may have seen me on t.v. I'm sure you're wondering who I was dancing with._

Hmm. How to explain that?

_He is a boy that goes to my school. I met him when I accompanied my friend to dance lessons. He's a really good dancer and our instructor, Miss Breyer, thinks that we have a good chance of winning. Do you agree?_

That was good. Tell them who he is in the simplest way possible and then quickly change the subject. Now to wrap it up.

_I miss you and hope to hear back from you soon._

_Love, Kitty_

It was short, but sweet. Kitty folded the letter into thirds and put it into the already stamped and addressed envelope. Then she went into the hallway to search for someone who could mail it for her. Normally she would do it herself, but, alas, she was grounded indefinitely.

As she stepped into the hallway she could hear Scott and Jean arguing in the Professor's office. She figured the Professor was in there too, but he wasn't yelling. She knew they were yelling about her. That's all anyone in the mansion could talk about. Kitty and Pietro.

_What's the big deal?_ she asked herself. Then she hit her head with her hand for asking such a stupid question. It was Pietro Maximoff, and these types of things didn't happen every day. In fact, until now they never happened. She had to pass the office to get to the living room where she figured Rogue or Kurt would be. She heard Jean saying, "There's no excuse for what you did."

"But Kitty..." Scott began.

"I don't care what Kitty did, right now we're talking about what you did."

Kitty knew exactly what that was. She remembered it like it was yesterday. Actually it was yesterday, but anyways...

She had been talking with Pietro when she heard. "That was really fun," she said, out of breath from the winning dance they had just finished.

"Yeah," Pietro agreed. He wasn't panting like Kitty was, but she could tell he was worn out. She didn't remember ever seeing him tired before.

"I can't believe we got the highest score! And some of those dancers were really good."

"That doesn't matter."

"Why not? We do have to compete against them."

Pietro smirked and said, "Because we're the best."

Kitty smiled at the fact that he had said 'we' instead of 'I'. Then she saw one of the cameramen running toward them. "There' a fight going on outside!" he said before running off to inform more people. Kitty and Pietro only had to glance at each other to know who it was outside. They quickly left the building and saw a large mob of people gathered in a circle. Kitty grabbed Pietro's hand and phased them through the crowd and into the center where they got a front row view of Scott and Lance.

It had started when they first saw each other from across the parking lot and escalated from there. Scott asked Lance what the Brotherhood's big idea was and why they were trying to corrupt an innocent girl like Kitty. Lance said that they were doing nothing of the sort. He had just heard about this dance competition and came here to stop the X-Men from using Kitty to bring Pietro over to their side. No one is sure who threw the first punch, but it was thrown, and then quickly responded to. That's when the crowd started to form around them and soon Kitty and Pietro joined it.

Kitty grabbed Scott's arm and pulled him back while Pietro attempted to keep Lance at bay. After a few minutes the boys calmed down and the crowd dispersed, sadly realizing that the fight was over. "I'm okay," Scott said to Kitty and she let go of him. Lance shrugged Pietro off of him and walked toward Scott. They just stared at each other angrily for a while. Then they noticed the other two mutants. Kitty had moved to stand next to Pietro and this reminded Lance and Scott why they were angry in the first place.

"You! What do you two think you're doing?!" Scott practically screamed at them.

Both of the dancers were silent until Kitty managed to say meekly, "Dancing?"

"Well, not anymore! Come on, Kitty, we're going home."

"Us too Pietro," Lance said and started to walk away, but Pietro didn't follow him just as Kitty didn't follow Scott. "Come on, man we're leaving!"

Pietro shook his head. "You're not the boss of me."

Kitty wished that she had enough guts to say that to Scott, but she was certain that she didn't, even though she really wanted to.

Lance's face was already red and it kept getting redder. Pietro thought that he looked like a red balloon that was ready to pop. "I am too the boss of you!" Lance yelled.

"No, you're not," Pietro said defiantly. He wanted to see how much Lance could take before he finally did pop. But then he looked at Kitty who seemed to be terrified of both the older boys. _She should know that neither of them would lay a finger on her_, Pietro thought. _If they're going to kill anyone it would be me._ But still, he didn't want her to be afraid. "We didn't do anything wrong."

"You don't think that fraternizing with the enemy is wrong?" Lance asked.

"It's not like you haven't done it a million times before."

"Kitty, let's go," Scott said. "You don't need to be hanging around with the likes of these two." He grabbed her arm, but she phased out of his hold and stood even closer to Pietro.

"But I want to! Is it so bad that I want to spend time with my friend?"

"It is when your friend is Magneto's son!"

"Aren't the X-Men supposed to be all about seeing beyond outer appearances and not judging a book by its cover? Have you ever spent any time with Pietro, not fighting, just talking? Have you ever had a real conversation with any of the Brotherhood members? If you did than you'd see they're not all that different from you or me, or anyone."

Scott took a deep breath. He realized that things had gotten out of hand before and he didn't want his temper to get the better of him again. So after counting to ten he replied, "But they're not like us, they're terrorists."

Kitty looked at Lance and Pietro. "Aren't they still people?" Scott was losing, he knew it and Kitty knew it. So she decided to end this. "Look Scott, I know you're just trying to do what you think is best for me, but I'm a big girl, you know? I'm old enough to decide who my friends are and I'm old enough to decide when I hang out with them. So what do you say Pietro?" She turned toward him. "Are you ready to go home yet?"

Pietro was shocked. He didn't think that Kitty would ever stand up to Scott. The shock wore off, though, and was replaced by a sleek smile as he lifted Kitty into his arms and said, "The night is young, and so are we." before running off.

Lance and Scott stood there for a while with their mouths wide open. Then Lance said, "This is all your fault!" and the fight started again. Security had to break it up, but because they said they were friends of two of the dancers they were let off with just a warning.

Kitty smiled as she stood outside of the office door. The Professor was furious with Scott, but still his usually calm self. She had yet to hear him scream, but she figured that he was yelling his brains out telepathically.

_Kitty, _Xavier said to her inside her mind. _Are you eavesdropping?_

_No Professor! Just...overhearing._

_Your curiosity is understandable, but if I've learned anything from being a telepath, it's that people deserve their privacy._

_I know. I'm leaving now. _She walked further down the hallway and into the kitchen. He had sounded normal just then, which was a good sign. Kitty had been worried that he would be furious at her too. She started to remember what happened after she had run off with Pietro.

Running at super-speed was great, and a little sickening. Things went by so fast and it was hard to take it all in. She wondered how Pietro could tell where they were going and asked him to stop for fear that they would run into a wall. When they did stop, they were at Bayville Park.

"Why are we here?" Kitty asked as Pietro put her down.

"No one would look for us here," he answered and sat down on a nearby bench. "So now what?"

Kitty thought. "I suppose we have to go home eventually, but I don't want to right now. We could just...talk?"

"About what?"

"I don't know. Anything. What's your favorite color?"

"White. You?"

"Pink."

There was an awkward silence then. Pietro didn't like silence. "So there's another competition next week?"

"Uh-huh. And then the final one is the week after that. We got the highest score this week so we're definitely in next week's show, but one bad dance is all we need to be in the bottom five."

"They're the ones who get kicked out right?"

Kitty nodded. "Five this week, five next week, and then there's only two couples left for the final round." She got a worried look on her face and Pietro knew what that meant.

"Don't worry. We'll be in the final two," he said and gave her a reassuring smile. "I promise."

Kitty smiled back at him. He was so sweet and really seemed to care about her. _What? Since when does Pietro Maximoff care about anyone but Pietro Maximoff? _He was still smiling at her. _Since when do I care who Pietro cares about?_

"I really enjoyed myself," she said before she could stop herself.

"Me too," he answered.

They looked at each other for a while. "You're a good dancer," Kitty said, not looking away from those blue eyes.

"You're not so bad yourself." He stood up. That was the first time he noticed that she had blue eyes too. He had always thought that his own were pretty spectacular, but hers were...something else. In fact her whole face was something. Something he couldn't describe. Her skin was smooth and creamy and her lips were rosy pink. He wanted to kiss those lips. _No!_ he told himself. _She's the enemy. Remember what Lance said? Oh, who cares about Lance, I'm going for it!_ But before he could, her lips were on his.

Kitty smiled even more at that memory. It was a good kiss. She hoped it would never end, but after a few great kisses it began to grow dark and they knew they had to return to their very angry teams. He gave her a cell phone. It was pink and new. She told him she already had a cell phone. He replied that this one was special, only he knew the number. He promised to call her.

"What are you smilin' about?" Rogue asked Kitty. She had come into the kitchen to get a drink and found the valley girl standing in the middle of the room, daydreaming.

"Oh, nothing!" she answered. "Hey, could you mail this for me?"

Rogue nodded and took the envelope. Then Kitty went back to her room. A lot had happened yesterday, but today was as boring as ever. Then she heard a ring coming from one of her drawers. She opened it and pulled the pink phone out from underneath her clothes. "Hello?"

"Kitty," Pietro said on the other line. "Wanna go to a party tonight?"

**AN: **Hmm... I wonder what party he is referring to??????


	13. Stupid Pietro

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **I had a 5 day weekend. I have no idea why. But towards the end of the weekend I thought to myself, 'I should finish that chapter I started.' Then I tried to remember what I had written last and found that I had forgotten **everything. **It was really quite sad. So then I re-read my story (I found out that I am a very good writer! Who would have guessed?) and continued on from there. I know that's not a very important story but I'm bored and figured it couldn't hurt to write it down. Enjoy the chapter! ...OR ELSE.

(I have no idea why I added that.)

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing relating to the X-Men or any Marvel comic book things. I am merely a fan and have nothing better to do with my time. Well, I could be working a way to solve world hunger, but this is funner.

Chapter 13

"Stupid Pietro."

When Pietro got home, everything was quiet. Apparently Lance's strategy was to just ignore him, thinking that any form of silence would drive him crazy. Though that was normally true, Pietro had other things to think about. Like Kitty Pryde.

Only a short time ago if you had told him that he'd someday be kissing an X-Man, he probably would have punched you in the face. But now, he couldn't wait until he got to kiss her again. He knew that she was most likely grounded, but he had to at least try to convince her to sneak out of the mansion.

So he called her. "Hello?" she said. How could he have ever found that voice annoying? "Kitty, wanna go to a party tonight?"

Pietro was sure that Lance wouldn't mind if they went to his party. Actually, he would, but this was too great of an opportunity to pass up. He got to annoy Lance and kiss Kitty all in the same night. That is, if she agreed to go.

"Oh! Um... I'm kind of grounded..." Kitty said on the other line.

"So?"

"So... I'll meet you there." Kitty couldn't believe that she had just said that. How was she supposed to sneak out? Well, she could phase through walls... But no! It wasn't right. She had to follow the rules... Or not. She really was spending too much time with Pietro.

"You know where it is?"

"Lance's party? Yeah, it's..." she thought back to the flyer she had read. Then she remembered why the address sounded so familiar to her. "I know where it is."

"Great! I'll see you there."

****

After dinner Kitty told everyone that she was tired and wanted to go to bed. As she was walking up the stairs, Kurt teleported in front of her.

"Kurt! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry. I just vanted to see how you're doing. You know, since zhe... zhe incident."

"_Incident? _You mean the dance show? Is that what everyone is referring to it as; _The Incident?"_

"Vell..."

"You don't need to explain, Kurt. I know this is unusual, but I had hoped that everyone would be able to cope with it in a mature fashion."

"Ve are! _The Incident_ is much better than Bobby's name for it: _The Broadcasted Live Television Show Dancing Catastrophe."_

"It wasn't a catastrophe and it wasn't an incident!"

"Maybe not for you, but ve're zhe ones who have to hear Scott complaining about it all day long."

"I'm going to hear it too, remember? I'm grounded indefinitely."

Kurt shook his head. "I overheard zhe Professor talking to Storm. Zhey're going to un-ground you and let you keep competing."

"With Pietro?"

Kurt nodded. "Apparently zhey think zhat this will be a good learning experience for everyone. I don't know how though. I can see it all ending very badly."

"That's just because you think the glass is half empty, when really it's half full."

"Vhat glass? And vhat is it full with?"

"Water, I suppose."

"Vhat happens if zhe glass really is half full, but I drink the water?"

"Then it's completely empty."

"Vhat if I refill it?"

"Would you fill it to the top, or only halfway?"

"Who fills a glass halfway?"

"People who only want half a glass of water."

Kurt thought on this for a moment. "How big is zhe glass?"

"This conversation is absolutely pointless!"

"You started it."

Kitty sighed. "It doesn't matter. What does is the fact that I get to keep dancing with Pietro!"

Kurt looked at her suspiciously. "You like dancing with him?"

Kitty pretended not to hear him and ran up the stairs while yelling a 'good-night' back. Kurt knew that something was up and decided that this was a good time to practice his detective skills. Then Evan called from the kitchen, "Yo Kurt! Come in here, you have dish duty tonight!" He sighed. Detective practice would have to wait.

****

The party was going great! Everyone was dancing and having a good time. As Lance walked around the warehouse he knew that this was a party that would go down in Bayville High history! Nothing could ruin his good mood. Then he saw Pietro. He was standing by himself near the bar. Lance wanted to go yell at him and ask what he thought he was doing at **his** party, but then he remembered that he wasn't speaking to Pietro and figured that it couldn't hurt to let him stay. It would cause him more grief to have to go talk to the hard-headed speed demon.

So Lance simply turned away and walked toward the DJ booth.

I've decided to take a break now. OK break's over.

Back to the story!!!!!!

Pietro couldn't sit still. This was normal for him, but the butterflies in his stomach weren't. What were they there for? He never got nervous in front of girls, especially this one. Maybe he just had a bad burrito at lunch. He went to the bar to try and calm down, but it wasn't helping.

He looked around. Where was she? Did she chicken out? Did she try to sneak out and got caught? He hated to be the reason that she got into even more trouble. Maybe she was already there. He searched the room some more. There was a large crowd beginning to gather by the front door. He walked over to it and overheard two girls at the edge of the crowd talking.

"Who is it?" one of them asked while she jumped up and down in an attempt to see who everyone was standing around.

"Someone said that it's a t.v. star, but then someone else said that it wasn't a star, just some person from a reality show," the second girl answered. She didn't seem as excited as her friend.

"Either way, I still want to see them! Did you hear a name?"

"Yeah, it's some animal. Bunny? Puppy?"

"Kitty!" Pietro yelled.

"Yeah, I think that's... Hey!" Pietro pushed the girls out of the way along with a lot of other people as he tried to reach his dancing partner. When he found her she seemed uncharacteristically at ease. He expected the shy valley girl to look very uncomfortable with all of these strange people so close to her, but she was joking and laughing with them like they were her best friends. Perhaps he was finally rubbing off on her.

When Kitty saw him she smiled brightly and ran over to him. "Pietro! I've been looking for you all over!"

He smiled back at her. "It looks like you've been spending more time signing autographs."

Kitty sighed. "I know. I walked in and they just swarmed in on me. Apparently they saw the show. Who knew being a star could be so tiring?"

Pietro began to feel a bit jealous. Why hadn't they swarmed in on him? He was on the show too. But then, he didn't really stay in one spot long enough for anyone to notice him. But he was standing still now, and everyone was looking at him...and her. Both of them. Hmm... Sharing the spotlight. That was a new idea. He looked at Kitty. She was holding tight to his arm and waving to someone. Pietro guessed it wouldn't be so bad sharing with Kitty.

"Hey, do your dance!" someone yelled. Then the entire room began chanting: "Dance! Dance! Dance!"

Pietro was uncertain. He was always up for a good dance and another moment in the limelight, but Kitty was another story. He was sure that she just wanted to get away from all of these people and go to a quiet corner... which he didn't mind at all. But, much to his surprise, she quickly grabbed his hand and walked onto the dance floor.

The loud rave music was soon replaced by an old, familiar piano.

_Come out, Virginia, Don't let me wait_

_You catholic girls start much too late_

_Oh, but sooner or later it comes down to fate_

_I might as well be the one_

Pietro noticed that Kitty's dancing was a little off. It was still better than most of the people in the warehouse could do, but she seemed less coordinated. She stepped on his foot once, but he didn't say anything. And she smelled...different. Then he realized. "Kitty Pryde, have you been drinking?!"

"No!" she quickly answered. All he had to do was remind her of what a terrible liar she was and she corrected herself. "Maybe a little. I got here a while ago, and let me tell you it was not easy sneaking out of the mansion. Especially because Rogue and I share a room, but I waited until after she started snoring and then I phased through the floor which put me right into the kitchen where..."

"Just tell me what happened when you got here," Pietro interrupted.

"Oh. Well, I came in and started looking for you. I thought I saw you once, but then you ran off somewhere. You were too fast for me to follow. I somehow wound up at the bar, and this guy said that he recognized me from the show 'Dance On!' and offered to buy me a drink. I told him that I was underage. He just laughed and handed me a glass."

"And you drank it?"

"Actually, I drank 3." She giggled and held up 4 fingers. Then she almost tripped. Pietro managed to make it look like a dip and the audience watching them applauded.

He lifted her back up and said, "I never expected this from you. You're always so...good."

"Honestly, I didn't expect it from myself." She thought about what he said. "Wait, does this make me... bad?"

He laughed. "No, one night does not make you bad. Don't worry, you're still a perfect straight 'A' valley girl."

She gave Pietro one of his own smirks and said, "Yeah, but only the good die young, right?"

Pietro smirked back. He could already tell that drunk Kitty was fun. No wonder all of those people were hanging around her. He started to worry about what she had said and if she had done something to ruin their chances in the competition, but he soon pushed the thought away and figured that he would deal with that tomorrow. Why waste time worrying?

Lance, of course, noticed the change in the music and rushed to the DJ booth to see what had happened that made the DJ start playing old Billy Joel songs. Everyone was crowded around the dance floor and he could hear people saying things like, "I voted for them." or "I'm definitely watching the show next week!" or "Did she almost trip?" He managed to push his way through them all only to find the last thing he wanted to see at his party: Kitty and Pietro dancing.

He wanted to run out there and start yelling at them, but then he saw how much fun everyone was having watching them and he didn't want to be the one to ruin it. So he just stood there, watching them. _Stupid Pietro, _he thought to himself. _Why is it that he always gets whatever he wants? He's got the good dance moves, the fame, and even... the girl. _A little voice in Lance's head said the word 'jealousy'. _Me? Jealous of Pietro? Never! _

He kept watching them. The song ended and, as everyone started to clap and cheer, Lance somehow got pushed back. Then people started to clap even more and a few people whistled. Lance managed to get through everyone and get Kitty and Pietro in his sight once again, but he wished he hadn't. They were standing in the middle of the dance floor, lip-locked. His hand started to form into a fist, but that tiny little voice that you know is always right told him that this wasn't the time or the place. He began to calm down a little, but he couldn't control himself when he saw Kitty open her mouth.

"Pietro!" He shouldn't have yelled. That gave them a warning that he was coming and they ran off before he could get anywhere near them.

So there he was, standing alone on the dance floor. The crowd started to walk away while they talked about what a cute couple they make and how they hoped they win. Great, they had the entire town on their side now. And who did he have? He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Kurt dressed as Sherlock Holmes. Kurt tried to give him a comforting look. Lance just turned back around and mumbled, "Stupid Pietro."

**AN: **Awww! I feel so bad for Lancey! How could I have written that? As much as I love Lance, though, this is a Kietro story and will forever remain that! I love Kietro! But I love Lance too! Oh well. NOW TO START WORKING ON THE NEXT CHAPTER! YaY!


	14. Maybe we'll invite them over for tea

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: _IMPORTANT!!!!!!_** This may sound strange, but I have decided to skip Halloween. I feel that it is for the good of the story. I know that the party was supposed to be on October 14th, but if I kept going like that than I would eventually reach Halloween and there really is no point in writing a Halloween chapter now that it has passed. Maybe next year. So this chapter is about Thanksgiving. YaY! Happy Turkeyday! I know that by the time I get this chapter posted it will be after Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving rox and I really wanted to write about it. So enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing!!! Stop making me remind myself that I do not own the X-Men or anything related to Marvel! It makes me sad.

Chapter 14

"Maybe we'll invite them over for tea and cookies"

Man, Lance was mad! Anyone could see that. And he also looked sort of...sad. Why was he sad? Pietro watched his friend standing on the dance floor while he hid in a dark corner with Kitty. He had run as fast as he could when he heard Lance yelling. The only problem was that he had run in the wrong direction. Now they were trapped. No matter which way they went Lance would be able to see them, and Pietro did not want that.

_'But maybe if we stayed in the shadows we could make a break for the front doors,' _He thought to himself. He looked at their escape route and saw Kurt standing near Lance. _'What? What's the elf doing here?!_' That wasn't a very hard question to answer. He was probably there to take Kitty home. Pietro couldn't let that happen; not after that kiss on the dance floor.

He turned to Kitty and said, "We have to get out of here."

She looked like she was only half-listening but managed to say, "I agree."

"But Lance is blocking our way out. What do we do?"

He wasn't really expecting an answer, but she gave him one by grabbing his hand and pulling him. For a moment it looked like she was going to crash him into the wall, but just as he expected to feel brick against forehead, he felt nothing. And when he opened his eyes, he found himself outside.

"Wha...what just happened?"

"You just phased through a solid wall," Kitty said. Then she shivered. The cold **November** wind blew fiercely against her bare arms. Pietro pulled her close and they began to kiss some more.

Everything was perfect. But of course that could never last. After a few minutes Kitty's eyes shot open. "Pietro!" she yelled as she pulled out of his grasp.

"What is it?" he asked, trying to think of what he had done wrong.

She looked around. "Do you know where we are?"

Pietro smiled. "Yes, I do. The question is, do **you** know where we are?" She looked like she had just woken up from a dream. Pietro had a guess as to what had happened, but he couldn't explain how.

Kitty looked over the landscape. To their left was the ware-house wall and to their right was a long grassy slope that led down into what Kitty recognized as... "Bayville Park!"

"That's right."

"So, that means that that story you told me about the spiders and the roach killers, they were about this ware-house?"

Pietro nodded.

"The ware-house where Lance's party is?"

He nodded again.

"Wow! I never would have guessed." She kept looking around with a smile on her face. Watching her, Pietro smiled too. He wished they could stay here forever, but...

"Pietro, I have to go."

"What?! Why?"

Her smile faded. "I can hear Jean yelling at me in my head."

"You're just paranoid about getting in trouble for sneaking out."

"I already am in trouble."

'_Pietro Maximoff! I don't know what you think you're doing with Kitty, but she is coming home right now, do you hear me?!' _

He heard Jean's telepathic screams very clearly and was certain that Kitty was hearing them even louder. He sighed and turned toward her. "I don't want to sound like I'm giving in to some preppy red-head, but this voice thing could get very annoying very quickly."

Kitty gave him an understanding nod. She knew that he would normally challenge Jean, but, for her, he held back. How could anyone not love him? She hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear, "Someday they'll understand. Just give them a little more time." He kissed her softly and then let her go. Kurt had showed up, apparently Jean told him where Kitty was. Kitty walked over to him and he teleported them both home, leaving Pietro alone with the smell of brimstone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"This is unbelievable!" Jean yelled at Kitty back at the mansion. "I walk into to your room to get my book back from you and find your bed empty! What am I supposed to think? For all I know you could be lying in a ditch somewhere!"

"Ditch? Where is there a ditch around here?"

Jean gave her a stern look. "This is not the time, Kitty. And then, when I do a mind-scan of the area I find you where? At Lance Alvers' party, making out with Magneto's son!!!"

"That is enough, Jean," Professor Xavier said. "Now it is time to hear Kitty's side of the story."

Jean had been yelling ever since Kitty got home and it really wasn't helping her hangover. Jean's mind-blast-thingy had temporarily brought drunken Kitty back to normal, but now the rest of her body was catching up, which led to one helluva headache. She squirmed in her seat as she answered, "Well, there really isn't much left to explain. I'm sorry for sneaking out and disobeying you, Professor, but I'm not sorry for being with Pietro. He's a good guy once you get past the whole Brotherhood of Evil thing."

Xavier nodded. "Over the past few days I have given much thought to your current situation, Kitty, and I think that I have come to a conclusion."

"What is it?" Kitty was almost too afraid to ask. She knew that if it were Scott or Jean talking right now they'd tell her that she could never see Pietro again and they'd probably lock her in her room for the next two months. But the Professor didn't seem as angry as them. Maybe there was hope?...

"I believe that you have been taught well. You know the difference between right and wrong, and you know when that thin line has been crossed. I think that you can decide for yourself whether to keep seeing Pietro or not."

Kitty's face lit up and she hugged the professor so tightly that she almost phased through him. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Jean stared at them with an outraged face. "Professor, you can't be serious!"

"Why would I lie about this? Kitty is old enough to make decisions like this for herself. And I don't want you or anyone else to stand in their way, do you hear me? Their personal life is none of our business."

"But the Brotherhood is our enemy! No matter what Kitty does, she can't change that."

"That's true, but you know what they say, 'Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.'"

"So what are we supposed to do? Maybe we'll invite them over for tea and cookies, and then we'll all be the best of friends," Jean said in a mocking voice.

The professor looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he said, "That's not a bad idea, Jean. In fact, I think that that is exactly what we're going to do."

"What?" Jean and Kitty said at the same time, both in different tones.

"Kitty, tell Pietro that the Brotherhood is invited to Thanksgiving dinner here at the Institute. I realize that you all probably won't become the 'best of friends', but I do think that you could learn a lot from each other."

Jean just stood there, speechless, while Kitty gave the professor another hug. "Oh, thank you so much! This is going to be so great! I promise you won't regret it! I'm going to go call Pietro right now and tell him!" Then she kissed him on the cheek and ran out of the room.

It was silent for a while until Jean managed to stammer, "I...I...I don't believe this. Thanksgiving with the Brotherhood of Evil."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

On Thanksgiving Day Kurt, Rogue, and Bobby sat in the kitchen, peeling potatoes for dinner and talking about the one thing that everyone at the Xavier Institute couldn't stop talking about.

"Ah still can't seem to wrap mah mind around the fact that the professor invited those juvies to eat with us," Rogue said.

"Me neither," Kurt added. "But vhat can ve do?"

"A lot more than you think," Bobby said with a mischievous look on his face.

"What did you do?" Rogue asked.

"Nothing yet. I figure the Brotherhood will drag themselves down, but if they don't..." he pulled a small sphere from his pocket.

"Vhat is that?"

"I made it while avoiding doing homework. You just punch in the amount of time here." He pointed to a set of numbered buttons on the sphere. "And then, once time runs out..."

"Bobby!"

All three mutants jumped and Bobby accidentally threw the sphere in the air. Luckily, Kurt caught it and hid it underneath the potatoes.

Storm walked into the kitchen. "Bobby, go clean up your ice! People are sliding all over the living room floor!"

"Sorry Ms. Munroe," Bobby said and left the room, followed by the weather-witch.

Kurt pulled the sphere out of the potato basket. "Vhat do you think happens once time runs out?"

"Nothing good," Rogue said. "Ah'm all for gettin' the Brotherhood in trouble, but ya do realize that we live in a house with two telepaths? This is somehow going to be traced back to us, so I don't want anything to do with it, ya hear?" With that she turned back to her potato and continued to peel.

Kurt looked back at the spherical device. He knew that the smart thing would be to join Rogue and just put it away before any damage was done, but he wasn't feeling very smart at the moment. So instead he put it into his pocket and headed for the dining room.

In there, Scott and Jean were talking.

"I guess I kind of overreacted," Jean said while telekinetically laying down the orange and brown table cloth.

"Happens to the best of us," Scott replied as he smoothed out the wrinkles.

"I know. And it's not like I didn't have a very legitimate reason, but still, the professor didn't seem too happy with me. I have no idea why though. He doesn't like the Brotherhood any more than us."

"That's true," Scott said and handed Jean half of the stack of plates. "But he does like the idea of mutant peace. And this is the time of year when people tend to go out of their way to make everyone get along."

She sighed. "You're right. I guess we just have to put our differences aside tonight and be polite, hospitable hosts."

"And then tomorrow we can go back to being mortal enemies."

Jean let out a soft smile and Kurt entered. "How's it going?" he asked.

"Almost done," Jean said. She laid out all of the silverware and folded the napkins into small turkeys without lifting a finger.

"Well," Scott said. "I guess you don't need my help in here. Kurt, you wanna come with me to go help Mr. McCoy with the turkey?"

"Sure," he answered as he fingered the sphere in his pocket. Should he? He knew the answer already. He guessed that the real question was 'Would he?'

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

_Later that day..._

"Remind me why we agreed to this," Todd said as he and the rest of the Brotherhood stood on the X-Mansion's front stoop.

"Free food," Freddy answered.

"Oh, right." Then there was an awkward silence while they all just stood there. "Uh, Lance, are you going to ring the doorbell anytime soon?"

"I'm prepping, okay? Tonight isn't going to be much fun for anyone and I just want to make sure that we're ready." He kept staring at the door. After a minute he took a deep breath and began to knock. Just then, it swung open and Lance fell into the foyer.

"Lance! Are you okay?" Kitty reached down and helped him up.

Todd handed her the fruit cake they brought and said quietly, "You have a lovely home." Then he bowed and slowly backed away.

Kitty raised one eyebrow. "Okay... You know, you don't have to be so formal. We see each other every day."

"I guess that this is just an awkward situation," Lance said.

"I wish it wasn't. The professor seems to think that we can all get along, and I agree. So please," she looked at them all with wide blue eyes. "Don't screw this up."

Storm came into the room and smiled at the guests. "Welcome! Dinner is almost ready, so if you'll follow me, we can all wait in the living room." She walked away and Lance, Fred, and Todd proceeded to follow.

Pietro and Kitty looked at each other. "You're awfully quiet," she said.

He shrugged. "I guess I'm just saving all my sarcastic comments for dinner. And besides, I don't really like Thanksgiving."

"Why?"

He just shrugged.

"Well, just be good Pietro."

"I'm not sure if it's physically possible for me to be good."

"Than at least try... for me?"

"All right, I'll try. But don't get upset if I fail." He gave her a charming smirk and left.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The living room was completely silent until Henry McCoy came in and announced that dinner was done. Then the X-Men and Brotherhood entered the dining room and sat down. Professor X gazed across the table and said, "We're missing someone." Everyone looked around. Who was missing? Then the doorbell rang. The professor turned to Kitty who was sitting closest to the door. "Could you get that please?"

She stood up and walked into the foyer. The doorbell rang again. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" She opened the door and standing before her was none other than the **master of** **magnetism **himself.

**AN:** Dun, dun, dun!!!!!! Should I stop here? How much would you hate me? But this is a Thanksgiving chapter and I really don't feel like dragging it out and making it into two chapters so I'm going to be a nice person and continue. YaY! Don't you all love me now?

Kitty just stared for a while with her mouth hanging open.

"Well," Magneto said, getting a little impatient. "Are you going to let me in?"

She wasn't sure what to do. Was this an ambush? No, if it was than he would have just smashed down the wall instead of ringing the doorbell. Was he the missing guest? That seemed like the only logical answer. She stepped aside and he walked into the mansion. He wasn't wearing his normal attire. Instead he had on what seemed to be a regular suit. She wasn't aware that he owned anything except for purple tights and red capes.

They entered the dining room together and Kitty saw every face in the room except for the Professor's drop from surprise. The professor was also the only one who said anything. "Hello, Eric. It's good to see you again."

"And you too, Charles," Magneto said as he sat down at the head of the table, opposite to the professor. "It's been far too long since we've been able to enjoy each other's company. How have things been here at the Institute?"

"Chaotic. Which is normal for us. What about you? Last I heard you were in England. How was that?"

"I always enjoy London's charm at first, but after a while I find I prefer American traditions; such as this holiday."

"Well, I'm glad you could make it back in time."

"As am I, Charles. As am I." Kitty saw him quickly glance at Pietro who wasn't paying any attention to him. She had forgotten that Magneto was his father. She wondered when the last time was that they had seen each other, and how awkward this must be for both of them.

The professor and Magneto continued to talk as if they were best friends instead of mortal enemies. As Kitty watched them, she began to see what the professor was doing. He was showing them that peace was possible. They all knew the things that Magneto had done and the many battles that have raged between him and the professor. They knew how different the two men were and in how many different ways. Yet, at the end of the day, they both still managed to hold great respect for one another, and from that respect has come a very odd, but very strong friendship. Kitty smiled as she realized this, but that smile quickly faded when she saw that no one else was getting the message. So she decided to try and be another example.

She turned to Pietro who had managed to get past Scott and secure a seat next to her and said, "How did you do on that biology exam? I think I did pretty well, but I couldn't remember what photosynthesis was." It was a very simple conversation starter that led to a very simple conversation, but that's all that was really needed. No, the other X-Men didn't turn toward the Brotherhood and began talking about their hopes and dreams and what makes them tick, but Rogue asked Freddy what his favorite Thanksgiving food was and Todd and Jubilee had a somewhat interesting talk about the weather. Most of the people at the table remained silent, but they were watching the others and realizing what was going on. It wasn't going to make them all friends like the professor and Magneto, and it certainly wasn't going to end any war, but it was a start.

Kurt saw this and found that he liked it. He smiled at the idea of peace. He was actually having a good time and hoped that nothing would ruin it.

Henry brought in the turkey and set it on the table. He held out the carving knife and asked, "Okay, who would like the honors of cutting this fine bird?" Magneto stared at it with a peculiar expression on.

"Hold on," he said. "Something's not right here." He stood up and walked closer to the turkey. Everyone else watched him intently. "Does anyone else hear a very faint beeping noise?"

Kurt gasped as he remembered what he had done. He was about to tell everyone, but before he could even open his mouth...

BOOM!

...the turkey exploded.

Everyone was speechless. Kitty turned to Pietro who was sitting directly behind the turkey. His face was covered in food. She didn't know what to expect him to do. He could start yelling or he could simply run off. Instead, though, he slowly wiped some of the food off his face with a napkin, smiled at Kitty, and said, "This is why I don't like Thanksgiving."

**AN:** Any story with an exploding turkey has to be good. Happy Thanksgiving (even though it's passed)! Now we can get back to the dancing... at least until Christmas!!!


	15. Which is better: 7 or 9?

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **The numbers fight (keep reading and you'll find out what that is) is currently going on right now between me and this girl at school. I won't tell you what side I'm on, but I'd love to hear what you guys think. Which is better: 7 or 9? **_REVIEW_** and tell me!

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing!

Chapter 15

Which is better: 7 or 9?

The Turkey Incident. That's what Thanksgiving was officially being called. Kitty didn't argue about that because she had to agree. If the main course explodes on the dinner guests who also happen to be your worst enemies and the rest of the evening is spent comparing this Thanksgiving to horrific ones from the past (and this Thanksgiving wins as Worst Thanksgiving Ever), incident is the nice way of putting it. But still, Kitty wasn't angry. In fact, she was very happy with the way it all turned out. The professor was letting her keep seeing Pietro, and only **most** of the X-Men were against them, not **all **of the X-Men. That's improvement.

Kitty and Pietro went to dance lessons with Trixie Breyer every day after school. Then Kitty had to clean and wax the X-Jet as punishment for sneaking out of the mansion to go to Lance's party. She didn't mind, though. In the end it was all worth it. Dancing with Pietro was too important to give up just because she didn't feel like doing some stupid chores. After the X-Jet was clean enough to eat off of, Kitty would have dinner, wash up, and then go to bed an hour before Rogue. Though she told the others that she was tired from all her work (which she was), in reality she would pull her pink phone from the bottom of her drawer and dial Pietro's number.

During this window of privacy they would talk about a number of things. During one of these conversations they had quite an argument.

"7 is so much better than 9!" Pietro had yelled.

"No way! 9 is better than 7!" Kitty shot back. "5 times 4 is 20, divided by 2 is 10, minus 1 equals **9**!"

"Yeah, but 4 plus 3 is 7, and 4 times 3 is twelve, minus 5 is **7**!"

"54 divided by 6 is 9."

"21 divided by 3 is 7."

Kitty sighed. "How did this start?"

"You said that 9 was the greatest number ever. I disagreed," Pietro answered. "...What are you doing?"

"Talking to you."

"What else are you doing?"

"Homework. What's the square root of 49?"

Pietro smiled on the other side of the phone. "7."

Kitty wrote down the answer and looked at the clock. "Wow, it's been an hour already? Time sure does fly..."

"...when you're talking to the coolest guy in the world?"

She laughed. "Rogue will be going to bed soon. I should go."

"Do you have to?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but some people around here seem to think that you're a bad influence on me."

"When in reality **you're** the bad influence."

"How's that?"

"Well, ever since I met you I've started doing my homework, cleaning my room, and becoming a productive member of society. It's horrible!"

"I'm sorry for making you a better person. I'll see you tomorrow at dance lessons?"

"Of course."

"Good night, Pietro."

"Night."

Kitty hung up and put the phone back in the bottom of her drawer. Then she got into bed and closed her eyes just as Rogue walked in. The southern girl tip-toed into the bathroom and closed the door as quietly as possible. '_How stupid does that girl think I am?' _She thought as she took off her make-up.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Pietro didn't go to bed directly after hanging up. Instead, he went downstairs for a snack. Surprisingly, Freddy wasn't already there. He was sleeping in front of the television with half of a very large sandwich on his lap. Lance was in the kitchen instead. For a second Pietro thought of just sneaking back upstairs and waiting until Lance went to bed to come back, but then he realized that this would be giving in to him and he would never do that. So he marched into the kitchen with his head held high, opened the fridge to get a pudding cup, and sat down directly in front of Lance to eat it. Lance didn't even look up from his own bowl of cereal. The two boys sat and ate in silence until Lance broke down and said something.

He had been arguing with himself for a while. He knew he wasn't happy with Pietro, but he could never admit to himself why; he wouldn't. So he just ignored him and kept repeating in his head 'stupid Pietro'. But though Lance liked to appear tough and strong, he couldn't deny the fact that he was also very truthful. He couldn't even lie to himself. '_Why is Pietro stupid?'_ that voice in the back of his head asked him. _'Because he is.'_ He knew he would never believe that. _'Because he's actually pretty smart.' _

_'How's that?'_

_'Because he was smart enough to read those books and learn how to dance so that he could get into that competition with Kitty. Because he was smart enough to let Kitty know how he felt instead of hiding it because he was afraid of what the rest of the team would say. Because even though all of his friends are against him and his father is going to freak out once he turns on his television and sees his son dancing, he still has the guts to come down here and eat his pudding cup like nothing ever happened. ...Stupid Pietro. Why does he always have to be right?'_

That's when he decided to talk. He figured that if he didn't, no one would and this silence would go on forever. "I know you like Kitty."

Pietro looked up at him and slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think everyone does."

"But they don't know like I do."

Pietro looked confused so Lance decided to elaborate. "You've never been happier. You get this feeling whenever you see her... it's like flying. And part of you just wants to get down and let everything go back to normal, but then part of you never wants it to stop. You keep thinking that something is going to go wrong; something's going to blow up in your face... that hasn't already. But the worry is part of the excitement. She makes you want to... to dance! She's everything you've ever wanted, and everything you can't have. But I know you. And I know you'll fight for this until the end. Just remember that I'll be there to fight against you the entire time."

Pietro couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lance looked so serious, it was kind of scary. This was a side that Pietro never expected Lance to reveal, especially not to him, but he realized that he was the only person Lance could say this to. He was the only other one who knew what it felt like to be in love with Kitty Pryde. "So wait, if you know all this, than how come you still want to fight me about it?"

Lance smiled. "Because we're more alike than you think, and I'm not giving up without a fight either."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Bayville Park was freezing as the winter season grew closer. But the dance lessons continued on, nevertheless. One day, as Kitty and Pietro were dancing, Trixie's eyes wandered over to the warehouse on the hill. "It must be warmer in there," she thought out loud.

Both of the dancers' heads shot up. "You mean there's a possibility that we could get out of this cold?" Pietro asked.

Trixie nodded. "But it's probably locked."

Kitty smiled. "It might not be. Do you want us to check it out?"

"No, you two keep dancing. I'll go myself."

"No!" they both yelled at the same time. Pietro had caught on to what Kitty was thinking. "We'll go. Lessons are almost over anyway. You can head home now and we'll leave once we see if we can get in."

"Well..." Trixie wasn't too sure about this. They needed every second of practice they could get, but then again they **had** been working very hard lately and it **was **freezing out there. "Okay, but don't do anything illegal!"

They both put their right hands over their heart and said in unism, "I promise."

Trixie didn't believe them at all, but it was too cold for her to care. Pietro and Kitty watched her get into her car and drive away before they walked up to the warehouse. Sure enough, the door was locked. Lance had done it, who knows why, after his party. But they had a simple solution to that. Kitty phased through the brick and opened the large doors from the other side. Pietro raced in, grabbed Kitty, and pulled her to where the dance floor had been. She giggled and threw her arms around his neck. Then they began to kiss. Pietro was amazed at how on target Lance's words had been. It felt great, but he couldn't shake this feeling that something was going to go wrong. And, as if someone had been reading his thoughts, Kitty's phone rang.

She sighed and answered it. "Hello?"

"Kitty, we need your help!" Scott said on the other end.

"What's wrong? You sound like you're in the middle of a war."

"Are you new? Our entire life is a war! Magneto's attacked the missile base!"

"There's a missile base in Bayville?"

"Just get your butt over here!"

He hung up. Kitty looked at Pietro who was now talking on his own phone and waited a minute for his conversation to end. When it did he had a very grave look on his face.

"I have to go attack a missile base," he said.

She nodded. "I have to go save a missile base."

They were both silent for a minute. They knew that this was going to happen eventually. They were on different teams and different sides of the law, and it was never more apparent than that moment. It seemed like they were miles apart when just a moment ago they couldn't have physically gotten any closer. Kitty wanted that feeling back, it was much better than the feeling of loneliness she had now. But there was nothing they could do. They each had responsibilities to their friends... and family. "So... do you know where this missile base is?"

Pietro nodded.

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "You ready?"

He nodded again.

"Let's go."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Every one of the X-Men was busy fighting the Brotherhood. Magneto was nowhere to be found, and neither were his acolytes. This began to worry Scott because he was the real threat. The Brotherhood was there just to hold them off while Magneto took control of the base and destroyed the world, but it's not like they could just walk away from the fight. Scott knew that his only hope was Kitty... '_We're dead.'_

Lance was thinking almost the same thing. When Pyro had called the house and told them to come down to the missile base and keep the X-Men out of the big guy's hair, he didn't even think for a second that Pietro wouldn't be there to help. But he had called him almost a full 10 minutes ago and he still wasn't here. _'Maybe there's a lot of traffic... What am I saying? He could have run here in 2 seconds if he wanted to.'_

Then Pietro and Kitty pulled into the lot and got out. They looked at each other for a second, and ran off in opposite directions. Kitty quickly found Scott. "I'm here!"

"Great!" Scott said, you could hear the relief in his voice. "I need you to go find Magneto."

"Me?"

"Everyone else is kind of busy, if you hadn't noticed. You're the only one who can do it."

Kitty only had to glance around to realize that this was true. "All right. Good luck out here!"

"I think you're going to need all the luck in there."

Kitty knew that he wasn't trying to freak her out, but he certainly wasn't helping either. Magneto was one of the world's most powerful mutants. What exactly did he expect her to do once she found him? Well, this was no time to back out. She ran through the front doors of the base. They were wide open and there wasn't a security guard in sight. Magneto had definitely been here. She followed the trail of wreckage and ashes (Pyro was here too apparently) to the main core of the base. There, in the middle of the room, she saw Magneto standing by himself. He lifted his head and she tried to get out of his eyesight, but there was nothing to hide behind. She soon felt a metal beam wrap around her waist and carry her over toward the Master of Magnetism. She tried to keep her eyes shut, but she had to see what his expression was, though she was sure it wasn't a pleasant one. She thought for a minute _'He could kill me right now if he wanted to.'_ It was strange to think that only a few days ago she had eaten Thanksgiving dinner with him. She opened her eyes and was surprised to realize how much Pietro looked like his dad.

**AN:** I'm going to stop now. Please don't hate me! The next chapter might not be too far away, I'm on a roll. Hope you liked it! **_REVIEW!_**


	16. Hips don't lie

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!  


By: XMENobsession

**AN: **The song is 'Hips Don't Lie' by Shakira. Don't worry if you don't know it or don't like it, it doesn't ruin the chapter for you. I'm sorry that this isn't a Christmas chapter, but it leads up to the Christmas one. I'm going to write that over the break, but for now be happy with this.

Happy Festivus!!!!!

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. Not the people (except for Trixie, who I don't believe is in this chapter), not the song, and definitely not the paper.

Chapter 16

"Hips don't lie"

Pietro was in the middle of fighting Spyke when he saw Kitty run into the base out of the corner of his eye. He quickly trapped the armadillo in his own spiked cage and followed her. He raced through the front doors, and right into Pyro.

"Hey, mate, what're you doing' here?" he said.

Pietro tried to peer around him, but when he did Kitty had already turned the corner. "Great, I lost her!"

"Lost who? You're little dancing buddy?"

"How do you know...?"

"All I had to do was turn on the TV. to see your ugly face staring' back at me."

"So that means my dad saw me too?"

Pyro nodded. "He wants to talk to you."

Pietro sighed and started to walk down the corridor to find his father. John stopped him and said, "Not now, though."

"Than why is he here?"

Pyro hesitated. Pietro gave him that 'I'm gonna dunk all your matches in water again' look. "He...he came to get his hat."

"Hat?"

"Yes. We were here last week, on a tour of the base and Mags forgot his brown hat. Actually, that's what I'm supposed to be looking for right now. Help me."

Pietro looked down the hall. Pyro could tell he was thinking about finding Kitty, but he couldn't let him go so soon. "Come on! The sooner we find this hat, the sooner we can all go home." Pietro didn't move. "And so can your little girlfriend."

Pietro didn't want to look for some stupid hat, but he knew that Pyro wasn't going to leave him alone until he found it. So he quickly ran to the nearest hat store, swiped a brown hat, ran all the way back to the missile base, handed the hat to a stunned Pyro and then went to look for Kitty (all within 5 seconds, mind you).

He figured she had been looking for his father, although he couldn't figure out why. _Scott must've been pretty desperate to send Kitty to take on Magneto. _He smiled to himself as he remembered the X-Men's leader sweating out on the field.

He entered the command center and found Kitty sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. Magneto was nowhere to be found. He raced over to her. "Kitty! Are you okay?"

She nodded very slightly.

"Where is he?" Pietro could tell that Kitty was upset about something, and he knew that his father was behind it.

"I...," Kitty stammered. "I think he left."

"Well, duh!" Kitty looked at him. She didn't make a face, but her eyes seemed so sad. He automatically regretted yelling. "I'm sorry, Kitty, but this is serious."

"You think I don't know that?" she snapped.

"What do you want me to do? I can't help you if you won't tell me what happened!"

Kitty sighed and stared at the floor. "Nothing. He just...scared me. It's not everyday you come face to face with a mass murderer."

Pietro could see that she was fine, just shaken up. He had overreacted. He took her arm and helped her to her feet. She could stand on her own, but she still leaned on him as they walked outside.

The fight was over. The Brotherhood was gone and the X-Men were attempting to regroup. "I should probably go before someone sees me and decides to give me the blame for this entire mess," Pietro said. Then he turned to look Kitty straight in the eye. "Will you be okay?"

She nodded more confidently than before and even managed a weak smile. The speed demon kissed her and then ran off. She stood in his roadrunner-like dust cloud and thought. That's when Rogue found her. "Kitty!" she yelled and the rest of the X-Men noticed her for the first time as well. "Kitty, are you all right?"

"Of course," she answered. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because our idiot leader here decided to send you after Magneto all by yourself."

"Hey!" Scott said. "Everyone's entitled to one bad decision. This happened to be mine." He looked at Kitty. "Did you find him?"

"Yes, just as he was leaving."

"You didn't try to confront him, did you?" a worried Jean asked.

"Of course not, I'm not stupid!" '_He confronted me,'_ she added silently to herself. "So what happened out here?"

Scott shrugged. "We're not sure. The Brotherhood just up and left without warning. Magneto must have told them to go, but it's anyone's guess as to why."

"He must have gotten what he came here for," Rogue said.

"We'll have to check the security scan the police are going to do; see if anything's missing."

Kitty looked at the ground. "Our work here is done, right? Right now the most we can do is speculate, so I suggest we all go home and get some rest." Then, right on cue, she yawned.

Jean smiled. "You've had a pretty tough day, huh? First dance lessons, now this. And if I remember correctly, tomorrow looks pretty hectic too."

"That's right, tomorrow is the next dance off!"

"Are ya scared?" Rogue asked.

"Naturally," Kitty answered. "But so long as I get some sleep I should be fine."

They all began to walk back to the X-Jet. "Don't worry," Jean said reassuringly. "We'll all be watching."

Kitty knew that she meant to comfort her, but somehow knowing that everyone she knew was going to be watching her dance on live television didn't make her feel less nervous.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kitty's hands were sweating like crazy as she waited with Pietro for the couple before them to finish. In her head she was going over the dance steps and telling herself not to be nervous. _How does he stay so calm? _she thought while looking at her partner. Pietro was leaning against the nearest wall and checking out his cuticles. _He's not even watching the other team!_ He looked up, saw her staring at him, and smiled.

"Nervous?" he asked in that annoyingly overconfident way of his.

"Who wouldn't be? If we mess this up, we're out of the competition. Everyone loves that couple from Texas and have you heard the cheers for the California team?"

"They're nothing to worry about."

"I know, I know 'because we're the best'."

He nodded. "We're gonna win this, you'll see."

She sighed. That wasn't enough to completely ease her worries, but it did help. She turned back to the dance floor just as the dancers finished. Everyone clapped and then the host came on to announce them.

"Last time they wowed you all with their amazing foxtrot, and here they are tonight doing the classic Cha-Cha. From the great city of New York, here they are: Pietro Maximoff and Kitty Pryde!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Scott, hurry up! Kitty's on!" Jean yelled up the stairs then she sat down next to Rogue on the couch. Kurt teleported in with a bowl of popcorn and sat down on the other side of Rogue.

"Zhis is so exciting!" he said and offered the girls some popcorn.

_Ladies up in here tonight_

_No fighting, no fighting_

_We got the refugees up in here tonight_

_No fighting, no fighting_

_Shakira, Shakira_

_I never really knew that she could dance like this_

_She makes a man want to speak Spanish_

_Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa_

_Shakira, Shakira_

_Oh baby when you talk like that_

_You make a woman go mad_

_So be wise and keep on_

_Reading the signs of my body_

_And I'm on tonight_

_You know my hips don't lie_

_And I'm starting to feel it's right_

_All the attraction, the tension_

_Don't you see baby, this is perfection_

"I love this song!" Freddy said at the Brotherhood's boarding house. As he started to sway with the music, Todd began to lip synch the words:

_Hey Girl, I can see your body moving_

_And it's driving me crazy_

_And I didn't have the slightest idea_

_Until I saw you dancing_

_And when you walk up on the dance floor_

_Nobody cannot ignore the way you move your body, girl_

_And everything so unexpected- the way you right and left it_

_So you can keep on shaking it_

"Stop it!" a very angry Lance yelled from the couch and almost made the entire house fall down. Todd and Fred immediately froze in their dance positions and looked to their leader. He was slouched on the couch with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at the TV. with a look of pure loathing. "Stupid Pietro..." he mumbled.

It wasn't very hard to figure out why Lance was angry, but he still refused to change the channel. But what fun is watching _Dance On!_ if you can't dance along with it? So Todd silently motioned for Freddy to follow him and they tiptoed up the stairs and into Pietro's room where there was another television (They had caught Pietro watching it one day and managed to work out a deal. Pietro would let them watch the TV. anytime he wasn't home as long as they didn't tell Lance about it and didn't ask where he got it.) Todd turned on the TV. just loud enough that they could hear it, but Lance couldn't, and they started to dance.

_I never really knew that she could dance like this_

_She makes a man want to speak Spanish_

_Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa_

_Shakira, Shakira_

_Oh baby when you talk like that_

_You make a woman go mad_

_So be wise and keep on_

_Reading the signs of my body_

_And I'm on tonight_

_You know my hips don't lie_

_And I'm starting to feel you boy_

_Come on let's go, real slow_

_Don't you see baby asi es perfecto_

_Oh I know I am on tonight my hips don't lie_

_And I'm starting to feel it's right_

_All the attraction, the tension_

_Don't you see baby, this is perfection_

_Shakira, Shakira_

"Wow," Jean said. "They're really good! They just might win this."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did," Rogue said. "Kitty's been dancing for years, and Pietro... well... Pietro's just talented." Rogue couldn't believe that she had just complimented a member of the Brotherhood, and by the looks on the faces around her, neither could the other X-Men. However, as they continued to watch the young speed demon, nobody could argue with that.

"Vell, I hope they do win," Kurt said to break the silence. "Kitty deserves it. Let's just pray that nothing gets in their way like it usually does." Just as he said that the camera moved away from the dancers and focused on a man sitting in the audience. The hairs on the back of Kurt's neck stood up when he saw that face. The words at the bottom of the screen read: Erik Lensherr, Pietro's father.

_Oh boy, I can see your body moving_

_Half animal, half man_

_I don't, don't really know what I'm doing_

_But you seem to have a plan_

_My will and self restraint_

_Have come to fail now, fail now_

_See, I am doing what I can, but I can't so you know_

_That's a bit to hard to explain_

_Baila en la calle de noche_

_Baila en la calle de dia _

_Baila en la calle de noche_

_Baila en la calle de dia_

_I never really knew that she could dance like this_

_She makes a man want to speak Spanish_

_Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa_

_Shakira, Shakira_

_Oh baby when you talk like that_

_You know you got me hypnotized_

_So be wise and keep on_

_Reading the signs of my body_

Todd and Fred were dancing like their was no tomorrow!

"Senorita, feel the conga, let me see you move like you from Columbia," Todd sang as Fred attempted to do a pirouette. He, of course, fell down and landed on top of Todd. "Yo!" he yelled and tried to move him, but Blob did most of the work. Then Todd stood up and brushed himself off. "You gotta be more careful, Freddy, okay?" There was no reply. "Freddy?" He looked up and saw his friend staring at the television with his mouth hanging open. Todd simply assumed there was a food commercial on, but as he looked at the TV., his jaw dropped too.

_Mira en Barranquilla se baila asi, say it!_

_Mira en Barrenquilla se baila asi_

"Lance!!!" Todd yelled as he raced down the stairs and into the living room. "Lance, Magneto's on TV., and he didn't even kill nobody!"

Lance turned toward them with a creepy smile on his face and said, "I know."

_Yeah_

_She's so sexy every man's fantasy_

_a refugee like me back with the Fugees_

_from a 3rd world country_

_I go back like when 'pac carried crates for Humpty Humpty_

_I need a whole club dizzy_

_Why the CIA wanna watch us?_

_Colombians and Haitians_

_I ain't guilty, it's a musical transaction_

_No more we do snatch ropes_

_Refugees run the seas 'cause we own our own boats_

Kitty's fears had totally disappeared when she started dancing. That's what happened to her every time. It's like the rest of the world doesn't even exist, only her and Pietro. She felt so happy and certain that nothing could take her bliss away. Then she turned her head slightly and looked past Pietro at the crow watching them...

_And I'm on tonight, my hips don't lie_

_And I'm starting to feel you boy_

_Come on let's go, real slow_

_Baby, like this is perfecto_

His face popped out at her like a vision from a nightmare. She was so shocked that she missed her dance step and tripped over Pietro's foot.

_Oh, you know I'm on tonight and my hips don't lie_

_And I'm starting to feel it's right_

_The attraction, the tension_

_Baby, like this is perfection_

She could feel herself falling. She knew that the moment she hit the floor the competition was over for them. She had already given up hope when she felt something push against her back and lift her up. She assumed it was Pietro and smiled at him as she began to stand up again. The crowd cheered for them, apparently not noticing the slip up. Then Kitty saw Pietro's hands. They hadn't moved. Than what had stopped her fall? Her gaze slowly moved over to Magneto.

_No fighting_

_No fighting_

_OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_

Kitty and Pietro received wonderful scores from the judges, however that wasn't enough to assure them a spot next week. After the show, viewers would call in and vote for their favorite couple. The two who got the most votes would return next week for the final dance off, and the winners would be chosen. Normally Kitty would be freaking out over the votes, but she had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.

After the judges scores were given, Pietro left to find his father and figure out what he was doing there. He seemed very angry when he left, but when he returned he was unusually quiet.

"Is everything all right?" Kitty asked.

Pietro nodded.

"Well, what did he say?"

Pietro's expression was very hard to read. You could definitely see shock, but there was also anger, confusion, and maybe a little fear? "Pietro?" Kitty said and comfortingly put her hand on his shoulder.

"He wants us to spend Christmas with him," he answered.

"Us? As in, you and me?"

Pietro nodded again.

"Why?"

"He said he wants the family to be together for the holidays."

"But I'm not family."

Pietro shrugged. "He says he wants you there."

Kitty thought about this. "Family... So does that mean that Wanda is going to be there too?"

"Most likely, and he wants you to invite your parents."

Kitty sighed. She couldn't figure out why Magneto was doing this. She thought back to the missile base. He could have killed her and had one less X-Man to deal with, but instead he simply gave her a lame excuse for being there (something about a hat) and offered her a ride home (which she politely turned down). Then he came to the show and saved her from blowing the entire competition. Now he was inviting her to spend Christmas with his family. She knew he was up to something, he had to be, but what?

"This should be a very interesting holiday."


	17. Chapter 17

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

**AN: **I know it's late since it's supposed to be a Christmas chapter, but oh well. Enjoy the chap and happy New Year! 07 ROX!!!****

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!!!

Chapter 17

Kitty looked down at the presents sitting on her lap. She still couldn't believe that she was going to Magneto's house to have Christmas dinner. When the other X-Men had heard about the master of magnetism's invitation they told her not to go anywhere near that house, but the professor was completely for it. He said that Magneto had a lovely home in a quiet neighborhood and that it would be rude to turn him down on such short notice. So there she was, in Pietro's car with him, driving down the seemingly endless road. The car finally stopped in front of an old, but well kept Victorian house.

"Wow," Kitty said as they pulled into the driveway. "I never expected Magneto's home to look so... homely."

"What kind of house did you think he lived in?"

"To be honest, I always pictured him in an old deserted castle of some sort. Cold and dark; kind of like his bases."

"That's where he does business. This is where he lives... sometimes."

"You mean he owns other places?"

"Sure. Let's see, there's his townhouse is London, that's where he's been staying these past few months. Then there's his summer home in California..."

"California? I can't see Magneto lounging on the beach and trying to get a tan."

"He doesn't spend a lot of time there. In fact, he's thinking of selling it and maybe buying a place in Canada."

"Why Canada?"

Pietro averted her gaze as he turned off the engine and answered simply, "Business."

"How does he afford all of this? This house is huge and I can't even begin to imagine what the others must be like."

"Oh, the usual: blackmail, threats, and your general sort of terrorism." Pietro stepped out of the car and ran around to the other side to open the door for Kitty. Then they walked up to the large wooden doors together.

"Have you ever been to his other homes?" Kitty asked, purposefully distracting Pietro before he could ring the doorbell.

"Of course. I am his son, you know."

"I know, but I also know that you two have never been very close."

"That doesn't mean we've never lived together."

Kitty could see that her question had brought up old memories for Pietro. He had a distant look on his face and she could tell that he was thinking about something, she only wished he would say what he was thinking about out loud. But before she could say anything the door swung open, revealing a smiling Gambit.

"Hello where, mon ami."

Kitty smiled back at him. "Hello, Gambit."

Pietro shook his head clear and handed Gambit the fruit cake they had brought before walking past him and into the house. Kitty quickly followed. He led her through the foyer and into a cozy living room where the rest of the acolytes and Wanda were sitting.

They all looked up when they entered the room. Kitty knew that they were staring at her more than Pietro and she began to feel very awkward. "Hi," she said meekly. John waved at her and then began playing with his lighter, Piotr gave her an acknowledging nod, and Wanda simply went back to reading her book.

"Well, aren't you all full of Christmas spirit?" Pietro asked as he sat down on the sofa next to Piotr. Kitty sat on his other side and attempted to look less nervous, but it wasn't working.

"I am sorry, comrade," Piotr said. "It is just that it has been a very long time since we have all been together like this and no one is very certain of what to do."

"We could play a game," Pietro offered.

"What game?" John asked.

"I've got an idea," Gambit said entering the room and shuffling his deck of cards with an evil grin on his face.

"We are not playing strip poker!" Wanda yelled.

Gambit sighed and put his cards back into his pocket.

"What do you think?" John asked, looking at Kitty.

"Me?"

"Yeah. You've got a family and what not, right? What do you all do when you get together like this?"

"Well, when my relatives from out of town come over we all like to play scrabble."

Gambit's dark eyes lit up. "I think we have that!" He walked away and came back with the board game in his hands.

"That's that spelling game, right?" John asked. "I don't know. I've never been very good at spelling..."

"Don't worry," Piotr said. "We'll play in teams."

Pietro quickly put his arm around Kitty, and Gambit moved next to Wanda who rolled her eyes but resisted the urge to hex him. John and Piotr looked at each other and simply shrugged.

As they all began to set up the board and distribute the letters Pietro asked, "Where's Mags?"

"He said that he forgot something for dinner and had to run to the store." John answered.

"So he should be back soon?" Kitty asked.

"He should be, but it's Magneto we're talking about here. He might get sidetracked on some attempt to conquer the world."

Everyone laughed, even Wanda, and as the evening progressed there was much more laughter. This surprised Kitty. When she first came into the house, she saw them each as complete individuals. They all had completely different personalities and styles, and it seemed like putting them all in the same room together and forcing them to play board games would only make those personalities clash and that would most definitely end badly. But now she saw that their differences made them even more compatible. They were like pieces of a puzzle. Each one was a different shape, but when you put them together you got a pretty picture. Kitty smiled to herself as she realized that this was the family that Magneto had wanted together for the holidays... but why was she there? Where did she fit into this picture? The game ended before she could think on this some more and Magneto entered the room. He had gotten the cranberry sauce from the market and dinner was now ready.

Kitty sat next to Pietro who was on Magneto's right. Wanda was on his left. The dinner was fabulous as well as the conversation. Kitty noticed that no one said a word about what Pietro would call 'business'. They talked about current events, sports, and television. Kitty was glad that no one brought up _'Dance On!'_. They mostly just discussed Desperate Housewives.

"That was wonderful," Kitty said to Magneto after she had finished eating. "Did you make it all yourself?"

"Yes," he answered. "Most people don't realize that I am an accomplished chef."

"Good," John said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "More food for us."

Kitty giggled and put her napkin on the table next to her plate. "Well I enjoyed the meal thoroughly, and if you don't mind I'd love a tour of this house. What I've seen of it has been lovely."

"Thank you and I would love to take you on a tour," Magneto said and began to stand up when the phone rang. "But first you must excuse me." He walked into the kitchen and came out a few moments later with a cordless phone in his hand. "I'm sorry, but I have to take this. Pietro, why don't you show Kitty around?"

"Sure thing," Pietro said. He wiped his mouth and set the napkin on the table. "Follow me," he said and they left the room.

"I like her," Piotr said, breaking the silence that followed Kitty and Pietro's leave.

"Me too," John added. "She's a lot more fun when you don't have to fight her."

"True," Gambit said. "But is that enough for her to become one of us? Gambit's not so sure."

"The X-Men are weighing her down," Wanda said. Everyone looked at her with startled faces. "What? Am I not supposed to say what I think?"

"No, we'd love to hear your opinions," Piotr said. "It's just that we were not expecting them. You have been very quiet this entire evening... you're always very quiet."

"Well, I felt like saying something. Is that so horrible?" Everyone shook their heads fervently. "Good. Now as I was saying, Kitty is too good for the X-Men. She could easily be an acolyte, if only she would forget that psychotic Xavier and his crazy ideals of 'peace' and 'friendship with humans'."

"Aren't her parents human?" Gambit asked.

"A minor technicality," John said. "Where are her parents anyway? Weren't they invited too?"

"She said that they had already made plans with her grandparents. Weren't you listening?"

"Not really."

Piotr stood up and began to clear the table. "Well, it's really not up to us. If she decides that she wants to completely change her life and follow Magneto than we shall welcome her with open arms. But I doubt that will happen, and the only one who could convince her to do this is..."

"Pietro," Kitty said to him in the upstairs hallway. "What's this room?"

Pietro smiled broadly as he said, "Do you really expect me to believe it's just a coincidence that the first room you come to is my bedroom?"

Kitty's eyes widened. "I swear I didn't know!"

Pietro only continued to smile. "Of course you didn't." He opened the door and stepped aside to let her in first. Kitty hesitated, but entered. Pietro followed her, and shut the door behind him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Magneto hung up the phone and sighed.

"What's wrong, boss?" Pyro asked as he entered the kitchen with a stack of dirty dishes, followed by Gambit.

"We have to go to Canada the day after tomorrow," the master of magnetism answered.

"Why?"

Magneto sighed again and said, "Business."

Pyro put the dishes in the sink. "That means you're going to have to miss the next dance competition."

"I know, but Pietro and Kitty will have to manage without me."

"How? Last time they almost screwed it all up in a matter of seconds. If you hadn't been there they'd have lost the whole competition and wound up ruining everything you've done for them."

Magneto thought about this for a second. "Maybe I should have someone there..."

"I volunteer to do this very difficult and very dangerous mission," Pyro, who dreaded the idea of going anyplace with snow, said.

"And what would you do if she were to trip again; light her on fire?"

Pyro just shrugged and mumbled softly, "Maybe..."

"No," Magneto said and stood up. "I need someone with a little more stealth. Gambit," The Cajun looked up from shuffling his cards. "You will go to the dance competition. And remember: they have to win." Gambit nodded.

Pyro folded his arms and shivered. Just the thought of Canada made him cold. "Where are the ballerinas anyway?"

"I believe they're still on the tour," Gambit said.

"Go find them, will you?" Magneto asked. "It's getting late and I don't want Pietro driving home in the dark."

Gambit shook his head as he walked up the stairs. Sometimes Magneto could act just like the Mutant terrorist he is, and sometimes you almost believe that he really is a concerned parent.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Pietro walked out into the hallway just in time to see Gambit walking up the stairs. "Hey, what're you doing here?" he asked, trying to casually lean against the banister.

"I live here," he answered. "Are you okay? I think this is the only time I've ever seen you out of breath before."

Pietro silently cursed himself for not being able to stop his heart from beating so fast. "I'm fine. What do you want?"

Gambit could tell Pietro was trying to get rid of him. "Where's Kitty?"

"Oh, she's..." his mind raced through a multitude of excuses. Fortunately he didn't have to risk any of them because at that moment Kitty walked out of the bathroom. "She's in the bathroom."

"Hi, Remy," Kitty said. "We were just finishing up our tour when I decided to freshen up. Did you want something?"

Gambit didn't believe either of them, but he wasn't in the mood to pry into the love lives of 'kids'. "It's getting late, you two should probably be heading home soon."

Kitty looked out the closest window. "It is getting dark. Thanks, Gambit. I'll see you around?"

"Of course, chere." Gambit leaned in to kiss her hand, but Pietro quickly pulled her away and down the stairs. Pyro was loading the dishwasher alone in the kitchen when they arrived.

"You leaving?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow," Pietro said. Kitty barely had time to wave to him before she was pulled out of that room as well and into the living room where the rest of the household was.

Piotr stood up and gave both Kitty and Pietro a hug good-bye, but Wanda barely looked up, though she did mumble a 'you too' when Kitty told her Merry Christmas. At the door, Magneto shook their hands and told them that he was leaving and wouldn't be able to watch them dance next week. Kitty made a sad face and said, "Too bad," but inside she was beaming.

"Well then," Pietro said. "I guess we'll see you when you get back. When is that anyway?"

"I'm not entirely certain, but I'll try to get back as soon as possible."

Pietro didn't really care when his father returned, but it seemed polite to ask. Besides, he wanted Kitty to think that he cared. For some odd reason she had this belief that family is important.

They said one last good-bye to everyone and got into the car. They drove for a little while until they got to Bayville Park where Pietro parked the car and turned to Kitty. "Now, where were we?"


	18. Dance, Dance

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **I hate to say it, but we're getting to the end of our story. I know, I'm sad too, but it had to happen eventually. This isn't the last chapter, I assure you, but it is the last stage of the competition. So let's enjoy what we have left and **REVIEW!**

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing!!!

Chapter 18

Dance, Dance

Pyro shivered and silently cursed his boss as he stepped out of the jet and into the deep snow that covered Canada. He hated snow. He was wearing a heavy, fur-trimmed parka but felt like he might as well have been naked. He wondered what temperature lighter fluid freezes at while Magneto spoke to a man about something he couldn't care less about.

"I don't know..." the master of magnetism said. "It's awfully cold. I'd like something a bit more tropical."

"Well," the other man said. "This has all the space you'll need as well as the seclusion."

"And enough snow to kill a mutant like Pyro here."

Pyro's head shot up when he heard his name. "What?"

"What do you think of this land?" Magneto asked him.

Pyro looked around. There was nothing but frozen tundra. "Not much..."

"So you wouldn't want to have a base here?"

Pyro quickly shook his head.

"Well than, I guess this just isn't going to work. What are our other options?"

The man thought for a minute. "Well... there is another place I have in mind. It's much warmer and..."

"We'll take it!" Pyro yelled and hopped back on the jet.

Magneto looked at the man and shrugged. "We might as well see it."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kitty, Jean, and Rogue sat at the X-Mansion's kitchen table, looking through magazines. They were trying to get ideas as to what kind of dress Kitty should wear for the final dance competition.

"This is so exciting!" Jean said. "I can't believe you made it to the final round! Not that I didn't think you were going to, it's just... for a while there I never thought this competition would end."

"Same here," Rogue said as she lazily turned the page.

"C'mon guys, it hasn't been that bad," Kitty said.

"Not for you, but we've had to deal with Scott," Rogue said.

"He did have a reason to be angry," Jean said.

"What about this dress?" Kitty asked and pointed to a random picture. She hadn't even looked at the dress; she just wanted to change the subject before either teammate could say anything else. She knew that Jean was still angry about Kitty seeing Pietro, and she knew that Rogue was one of the few X-Men on their side and not afraid to say it. There had been a lot of recent fights over this sore subject, and not just between Jean and Rogue. The other day, Bobby decided to make it known that he was a supporter of Kitty and Pietro. He even made up buttons that said 'Pro Kietro' and began passing them out at the institute. Some people wore them proudly, but others, such as Evan and Scott, refused to even touch them. This caused a large debate that ended with the library needing to be remodeled.

"I don't think that's your color," Jean said. "What about pink? You love pink."

"I do, but I made Pietro wear pink for the first round. I don't think he'd be willing to do it again."

"What's Pietro's favorite color?" Jean asked. Kitty could tell that she didn't like talking about him, but she was trying.

"White," she answered. "But I don't want to wear white."

"Who says you both have to wear the same colors?" Rogue asked.

"No one, it just looks better when you do."

"What about complimentary colors? He could wear white and you could wear... I don't know... black?"

"That's not a bad idea," Kitty said thinking of how good she would look in a little black dress, and how handsome Pietro would look in a white tux. "Thanks Rogue!"

Rogue simply smiled and gave Jean a 'hah! She likes my idea better than yours' look. The telepath ignored it and asked Kitty, "Have you thought about a song? Or a dance style?"

"We're going to do the Quickstep," she answered. "As far as the song goes, who knows...?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Trixie handed the audio guy Kitty and Pietro's music and took in a deep breath. This was it; the final stage of the competition. Whoever won this would get 'eternal dancing glory'... plus the cruise. This could also mean the difference between Trixie's dream of starting her own dance studio and spending the rest of her life teaching unappreciative teenagers art. The last couple was good... really good. Kitty and Pietro couldn't afford even one mistake. Trixie looked at them on the television screen. Kitty didn't look so good. She crossed her fingers and the audio guy pressed _'play'._

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kitty didn't feel well the day before. She had kept quiet about it, though, in hopes that it was just a twenty-four hour bug and would go away by the time of the competition. But it didn't. She woke up feeling nauseous, but went to the show anyway, determined to get over it and win the competition. However, as she stood in the middle of the dance floor, her sickness mixed with her nervousness made for one very uncomfortable feeling.

She turned to Pietro who was completely oblivious to her. She was glad about that though. He had enough to think about and she didn't want to be repeatedly asked, "Are you okay?" So she took a deep breath and the music started.

_She says she's no good with words but I'm worse_

_Barely stuttered out_

_"A joke of a romantic" or stuck to my tongue_

_Weighed down with words too over-dramatic_

_Tonight it's "it can't get much worse"_

_Vs. "no one should ever feel like..."_

_I'm two quarters and a heart down_

_And I don't want to forget how your voice sounds_

_These words are all I have so I'll write them_

_So you need them just to get by_

_ whispered : We're going into D-Minor_

_Dance, Dance_

_We're falling apart to half time_

_Dance, Dance_

_And these are the lives you'd love to lead_

_Dance, this is the way they'd love _

_If they knew how misery loved me_

Kurt sighed as he watched his friend and enemy dance on live television.

"What's wrong with you?" Rogue, who was sitting next to him on the couch, asked.

"I'm glad zhey're in the top two, but zhat means zhat they can't win zhe 3rd place prize of a lifetime supply of Uncle Bob's Burgers."

"But now they're in the running to win an even better prize."

"I know, but I guess I vas kind of hoping they'd share zhe burgers with me." He sighed again.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, after the show how about we go to Uncle Bob's Burger Hut and Ah'll buy you a burger?"

"Thanks Rogue." He smiled a little and looked back at the TV. "Does Kitty look all right to you?"

Rogue squinted at the TV. "She seems a little off. And now that Ah think about it, she said she wasn't feeling good last night. Ah hope she's all right..."

_You always fold just before you're found out_

_Drink up its last call_

_Last resort_

_But only the first mistake and I..._

_I'm two quarters and a heart down_

_And I don't want to forget how your voice sounds_

_These words are all I have so I'll write them_

_So you need them just to get by_

_Why don't you show me the little bit of spine_

_You've been saving for his mattress, love_

Remy LeBeau sat in the crowd and watched the dancers quickstep across the floor. He was there to make sure they won, but how was he supposed to do that? If she fell again he couldn't use his magnetic powers to lift her back up like Magneto did. His only hope was that nothing went wrong and he wasn't needed. But as he watched the look on Kitty's face grow more and more sour, he doubted that was possible.

_'Come on, chere,' _he said under his breath. _'You can do this! Just stick it out 'til the end of the song... Please...'_

_Dance, Dance_

_We're falling apart to half time_

_Dance, Dance_

_And these are the lives you'd love to lead_

_Dance, this is the way they'd love _

_If they knew how misery loved me_

_Why don't you show me the little bit of spine _

_You've been saving for his mattress (mattress, mattress)_

_I only want sympathy in the form of you crawling into bed with me_

The spinning... too much spinning! To Kitty it looked like the whole world was spinning, and way too fast. She told herself that she could handle it...

_Dance, Dance_

_We're falling apart to half time_

...she could get through this...

_Dance, Dance_

_And these are the lives you'd love to lead_

...she could make it...

_Dance, this is the way they'd love (way they'd love)_

...she...

_Dance, this is the way they'd love (way they'd love)_

...she couldn't do this! In a split second Kitty pushed Pietro away, covered her mouth, and ran out of the room.

_Dance, this is the way they'd love_

_If they knew how misery loved me_

_Dance, Dance_

_Dance, Dance_

_Dance, Dance_

_Dance, Dance_


	19. We need to talk

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN:** Read and Review! We're nearing the end now and I want plenty of feedback! So please give your opinion... unless of course it's a bad one; then I couldn't care less. No, I joke... Please **_REVIEW! _**and I will be happy. And when I am happy, Kietro is happy!

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing!!!

Chapter 19

"We need to talk."

Gambit pushed through the crowd of people and out into the hallway while mumbling in French under his breath. Why was it that these sorts of things always happened when he was in charge? What was he supposed to tell Magneto now? He spotted Kitty sitting on the floor next to a wall that said 'bathroom'. _'At least she made it there,' _he thought. There was a woman sitting next to her with her hand on her shoulder.

"How are you feeling now?" the woman asked her in a soothing voice.

"Fine, I guess..." Kitty answered.

"Well you sure picked a fine time to not be fine!" Gambit said harshly as he approached them.

Kitty didn't lift her eyes from the floor, but the woman looked at him angrily and said, "It's not like it was her fault! She didn't ask to be sick! And why do you care?"

"I have my reasons and they're none of your business. Who are you anyway?"

"I'm her dance instructor. Who are you?"

"I'm... a friend of the family."

Trixie didn't believe that for a second, but realized that she had no right to pry. She simply held her glare and said in a calm voice, "Kitty doesn't feel well and I think she would appreciate it if people would just leave her alone."

Gambit uncrossed his arms and walked away. He needed time to think and he was too angry to keep talking to that lady. With his luck, he'd wind up using his powers and giving himself (as well as Kitty and Pietro) away.

Trixie turned back to Kitty who said quietly, "I'm sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Kitty."

"Yes, I did! I ruined our chances and embarrassed myself on live television."

"You didn't plan that... did you?"

"Of course not! I just couldn't stop it. I..." she paused then covered her mouth again and ran into the bathroom. Trixie frowned. She couldn't say that she wasn't upset about the entire mess, but she couldn't let Kitty know that. She already felt bad enough. Trixie sighed and turned to see Pietro coming toward her with a worried look.

"How is she?" he asked.

They could hear Kitty from the hallway. "Guess."

Pietro leaned against the wall where Kitty had been a few moments ago. "I can't believe this."

"Neither can I, but what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know... We should probably call the institute to see if someone can pick her up."

"If any of them had the TV on, they'll already be on their way."

Sure enough, Scott arrived within ten minutes. He and Kitty drove home where she went directly to bed, while the other X-Men worried about her in the kitchen.

"I hope she'll be okay," Kurt said.

"Well," Jean said. "Scott will take her to the doctor tomorrow, right?" She looked at him expectantly. He nodded. "Then we should know what's wrong with her."

"Ah hope it's not too serious," Rogue said. "Ah have to share a room with her."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Pietro, I'm fine!" Kitty said to him after he asked her for the millionth time if she was all right. They were sitting out front of the institute the next day and waiting for Scott to come so that he could take Kitty to her doctor's appointment.

"I'm just worried. Is that a crime?" he asked.

"Would you stop if I told you it was?"

"Fine, I won't ask about your health ever again!"

"That's the best thing you've said all day," Kitty said with a smile. Pietro playfully gave her a noogie. She laughed, pushed his arms away, and kissed him. He kissed her back.

"Will you two knock it off?" Scott asked as he walked out the front door and onto the steps. "Do you really want each other's germs?"

Pietro held Kitty tighter and answered, "Yes!"

Kitty managed to get him off her and stood up. "I'm ready when you are."

"Good, let's go," Scott said and walked to the garage. Kitty gave Pietro a good-bye peck and followed him.

They arrived just in time and, as Kitty followed the nurse further into the office, Scott grabbed an old _'Time'_ magazine and sat down.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I guess you were just too busy playing card games with girls who obviously aren't interested in you to notice that Kitty was ready to hurl on the dance floor!" Magneto yelled into his phone at Gambit.

"What was I supposed to do?" he asked on the other end.

"Start a small fire! Make one of the cameras explode! Cause **some **form of a distraction so that they might still have a hope of winning!!!"

Gambit sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? It was all my fault and I'm sorry. Are you happy?"

"No, I'm not happy, and I don't think I'm going to be for a very long time." On that note, he hung up and turned angrily to Pyro and Colossus who shrank into their seats when he looked at them. "We're going home." The two acolytes immediately stood and walked toward the jet.

"But, Mister Lensherr..." the real estate agent muttered.

"We're buying the land. Mail me the forms to sign and we'll be here by the end of the month," Magneto said over his shoulder as he walked away. He got on the jet and flew off, leaving the real estate agent coughing in the dirt it lifted off the ground.

The agent turned to look at the landscape again. It was tropical and warm, and also very spacious. When Magneto saw it he was immediately impressed, something the agent figured didn't happen very often. It was a rather large piece of land; an island that was cut off from the rest of the continent. It used to be a large city, full of people, but then it was attacked and captured by an ancient civilization that had no need for an island of its comparatively small size and so they abandoned it. For some reason, no one inhabited it since then... until now. The real estate agent looked down at the papers in his hands. He had a list of places he had shown Magneto. The master of magnetism had found something wrong with every one of them... until now. He smiled as he circled the last place: **Genosha**.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Scott looked up as Kitty walked into the waiting room. "Well?" he asked. "What's the diagnosis?"

"I'm sick," Kitty answered simply.

"We already knew that! Did he prescribe anything for it?"

She shook her head. "Nope. He just said that I should get plenty of sleep and drink lots of fluids."

Scott had no reason not to believe Kitty, so he just shrugged, put the magazine back on the rack, and left.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Pietro couldn't focus on anything that day; not even Gilmore Girls! He kept looking at his phone. Kitty promised to call once she got home from the doctor's. His restlessness bugged Lance.

"Will you sit still for once in your life?" he yelled at the speedster after he checked his messages for the millionth time. "Jeese, you're even more annoying than normal."

"Shut up, Lance!"

"**You** shut up!"

The two mutants stood up and were close to coming to blows when Todd jumped between them. "Knock it off, yo!"

"I'm outta here," Pietro said and left, slamming the front door behind him.

When Lance had calmed down Todd asked, "What happened? You and Pietro are supposed to be best friends."

"Yeah, well, we're supposed to be teammates too, but he seems to have forgotten that!"

Todd rolled his eyes. "Is this still about Kitty? I thought you were over her, man."

**"I am!" **Todd gave him a knowing look and he sighed in defeat. "I will be. I just... this is so annoying! You'd think that after she completely ruined his chances of winning that stupid show he'd never forgive her, but instead he's worried sick over a simple flu!"

Todd blinked. "You didn't... **you** didn't make her sick... did you?"

Lance seemed appalled at the thought. "No! Never! Like I said, she has the flu. It's nothing to go crazy over and definitely **not** my fault!"

"Okay, just... just be careful. The last thing we need is for you two to fight and break up the Brotherhood."

"Don't worry, that's **not** going happen. If anything is going to break up the Brotherhood, it's gotta be **big!**"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Pietro," Kitty said on the phone. Immediately after arriving home, she ran to her room and dialed his number. "We need to talk."

**AN: **By the way, **Genosha** is not a random word. Those who have read the X-Men comic books would probably know what it is, but if you don't it's okay. My Genosha isn't going to be exactly like it.


	20. The End!

Dance on, Kietro, Dance on!

By: XMENobsession

**AN: **This is it: THE LAST CHAPTER!!!!! I know, I'm sad too, but it had to come eventually. I hope you all enjoyed reading the story because I sure did enjoy writing it. If I get enough reviews than I might write a sequel. Trust me; once you read the ending you will want one! I love all of my readers! Good-bye! (Well, not really good-bye because you still have to read the story, but good-bye for the author's note)

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing! (Glad I don't have to write that any more!)

Chapter 20

The End!

Magneto was in his study, packing for the move to Genosha when he felt a soft pang in his head. Unlike most people, he was skilled enough to know when someone was reading his mind. _'Charles'_ he thought in his head, knowing the professor could hear him. _'What do you think you're doing?'_

_'I'm sorry to invade your privacy, Erik, but I was hoping to find out the reason for this move,' _Xavier answered telepathically from his library at the Institute.

_'I've told you already; I need a change of scenery.'_

_'Than go on vacation! Visit your house in California! There's no need to sell your home and permanently move to some remote island in the Indian Ocean! I know you, Erik; this isn't that simple. You've got some plan working in that head of yours and I would like to know what it is.'_

_'Well, I'm sorry, but you'll just have to wait like everyone else. Now please get your voice out of my head and let me get back to packing.' _

Xavier sighed. He should've known he would get nowhere with Magneto, but it was worth a shot. He just couldn't figure out what he was up to and it was driving him crazy. Why the move? And why the recent trip to London? At first, Charles had believed that it was just a vacation, but that was before he heard about the 'Mutant Council' Mags had apparently held there. It was all very suspicious, but none of it made sense. Maybe he would just have to wait like the rest of the world, but by then it might be too late...

Magneto taped his box shut and grabbed another one. He opened it and placed it on his desk as he looked around the room. Now that he had packed all of his metal items, he was forced to do the rest manually. He picked up a picture frame and studied it. He stood there, just looking at it for a while, and then Pietro walked in.

"Yes?" Magneto asked, quickly putting the picture in the open box.

"Um..." Pietro looked at the floor. "I... uh..."

"Pietro, I'm very busy right now, so if you have something to say please say it quickly."

"Well... Um..."

Magneto sighed impatiently. Pietro figured he might as well just let it out:

"Kitty's pregnant."

Magneto didn't move. Pietro wasn't sure if he was thinking or if he was just paralyzed. But after five minutes of agonizing silence he picked up another picture frame and put it in the box. Then another. Then he put his calendar in there, followed by a can of pencils.

Pietro watched him closely, looking for some sign of anger, rage, or any sort of emotion, but he showed none. He continued to pack and Pietro continued to stare.

"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help?" Magneto asked him in a voice no different than his normally annoyed one.

Pietro immediately began to help load random office items into the cardboard box. After the entire room was empty and the last box was taped and labeled Magneto turned to Pietro. His face was still expressionless as he asked in an unreadable tone, "What are you going to do?"

Pietro honestly didn't know how to answer that. "Uh... I guess I should probably do something responsible, right?"

"A little late for that, isn't it?"

Pietro looked down at his feet. "We should probably get married, I guess..."

"That's a good idea, but there's more to it than that. Where are you going to live? How are you going to pay for it? Are you going to continue school or will you drop out and get a job? If you get a job, what will you do? What sort of skills do you have? How do you expect to support, not only yourself, but a wife and child as well?!"

Pietro paused, then answered quietly, "I don't know."

"No, you don't. You have no idea what you just got yourself into. This isn't some game, Pietro! This is life, and thanks to your stupid mistake you just jumped head-first into it!"

"I know that!" Pietro yelled back in response. It was the first time he had ever talked back to his father. "You think I don't realize that I just screwed up my life?!"

"It's not just your life any more! Think about Kitty and the baby! If you're going to do this, than that means it's not all about **you**!"

Pietro looked at him, shocked. "What do you mean _'if'_?"

"What?" Magneto put his hand on his head and leaned against his desk. He didn't need this; not now.

"You said, '_If_ I decide to do this'. What's with the _'if'_?"

"You have a choice, Pietro. You don't **have** to do this."

This seemed to be the first time that this thought crossed Pietro's mind. He was silent for a minute, but only a minute. "Yes, I do."

For the first time, Magneto smiled. "Good answer. Now I will ask you once again; what are you going to do?"

Pietro took in a deep breath and answered, "I think I need some help."

Magneto nodded.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kitty avoided her fellow X-Men as much as she could, which was surprisingly easy considering that they live together. When she woke up in the morning she immediately ran into the bathroom and morning sickness began. After that, people pretty much stayed away from her. She was happy with that though because she wasn't sure if she could handle being around her best friends and not telling them this huge news she had. But she new she wasn't ready to tell them; she was barely ready to tell Pietro. When the doctor told her she was pregnant she needed a few minutes to let it sink in. She was pregnant. She was going to have a baby. She was going to have Pietro Maximoff's baby. She definitely wasn't expecting that.

After she began to feel better she went outside to the backyard and sat under an oak tree to think. That's when she saw Lance running across the lawn toward her.

"Kitty!" he yelled and stopped when he reached her to catch his breath.

"Lance?! What is it?"

"Freddy..." he said, still panting.

"What about him? Is he all right?" She was starting to worry.

"Freddy... he told me... Todd... Gambit..."

"Lance, calm down and **slowly** tell me what you have to."

Lance continued to pant until he was rested enough to speak. "Freddy told me that Todd told him he heard from Gambit who was told by Pyro who overheard Magneto and Pietro talking and apparently... YOU'RE PREGNANT!!!"

"WHAT?!" Scott asked as he sprinted toward them.

Kitty's eyes widened and she stood up. "Scott! Where did you come from?"

"I was coming out to see if you're feeling all right, and I wound up overhearing this whacko lie his face off!"

"It's not a lie!" Lance yelled at him. He turned to Kitty. "Is it?"

Kitty looked from one face to the other. Scott looked like he was about to explode, but was holding it in. He wanted Kitty to tell him that it was a lie and there was no need to freak out, but she couldn't do that. "It's the truth," she said quietly. Lance's face immediately dropped. It seemed he had been holding onto the hope that this was just a mean rumor. The reality of the situation hit him hard, but not as hard as Scott.

He yelled some very bad words and some more of the X-Men found their way onto the lawn. Once the information got around, the institute was absolute chaos. Kitty was bombarded with questions. She wanted to do anything but answer them. So in the midst of the craziness she phased through the ground. She wound up at the institute back doors and turned around to catch one last glimpse of a fight beginning between Lance and Scott. She sighed and walked inside.

Her phone rang. She picked it up and looked at the caller ID. "Hello, Pietro," she said when she answered it.

"I told my dad," Pietro said on the other end of the phone.

"I know."

"How?"

"Apparently Pyro overheard you two talking and he told Gambit who told Todd who..." She sighed. "It eventually got to Lance and he came here and told Scott."

"So now the entire Institute can't stop talking about it?"

"You'd think you were an X-Man."

"I'm sorry, Kitty."

"Don't be. You didn't know John could hear you."

"No, not about that, about... well... everything! It's all my fault..."

"Hey, it takes two, you know?" Kitty cringed as she heard something explode outside. "Is there any way you could come pick me up? I just want to get out of here!"

"Actually, I'm on my way now."

"Why?"

"My dad made me a very... interesting offer. Well, really he made **us **an interesting offer."

Kitty was starting to get scared. "What is it?"

"He said that we could live with him in the house he just bought. It's in some place called 'Genosha'. He would pay for everything for us and the baby. He claims we'd never have to lift a finger."

This sounded great, but Kitty knew Magneto. "What's the catch?" she asked.

"We'd be living with Magneto. Not only would that be completely against everything Xavier's ever taught you, but... it's Magneto! I know he's not your favoritest person in the world."

"No, he's not, but this sounds like a pretty sweet deal."

"So you're for it?"

"I don't know..." There was another explosion. "Maybe."

"You think about it and I'll be there in a few minutes. Stay out of trouble until I get there, okay?"

"I'll try. Bye." She hung up and took a deep breath. "You can come out now," she said and Rogue walked out from behind the door. "How long have you been there?"

"Too long," Rogue answered. "By the way, you should really turn down the volume on your phone; I could hear everything."

"So now you're going to tell me what an idiot I am and how I should stay here where I'm safe."

"I think you should do what you think is best. This is your life and your decision."

Tears filled Kitty's eyes. "I wish it weren't." She turned around, put her head on Rogue's covered shoulder, and began to cry. Rogue awkwardly patted her back and said, "It's going to be okay."

Kitty lifted her head. "How do you know?"

"Honestly, Ah don't. But it sounds like you've been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"You think I should move to Genosha?"

"Ah'd miss ya like crazy, but Magneto has something the X-Men can't offer: stability. There's no way these guys could handle saving the world **and **a baby. Magneto may be a whacko, but he'd keep you safe and out of harm's way."

'_No he wouldn't,' _Kitty immediately thought to herself, but then she remembered the dance competition where he had stopped her from falling. Then she thought about the missile base. He had her right in the palm of his hand. He could have killed her and had one less X-Man to deal with, but he didn't. Instead he let her go. Why? Why did he invite her to Christmas dinner? Why was he offering her a place to live? She couldn't make any sense of it. Was he just looking out for his son and future grandchild, or did he have some complex evil scheme in the works? She couldn't decide, but she also couldn't ignore the fact that she was being offered protection, not just for her, but for her baby as well.

"I think I'm going to do it," she said after a long pause.

"You're leaving?"

Kitty nodded. Now it was Rogue's turn to start crying. She hugged her friend and said softly, "Good luck... with everything."

"Thank you," Kitty whispered back. "I'll really miss you. You were a great friend."

"Hey, don't talk like we're never gonna see each other again!"

"You're right. I'm sorry. It's just going to be really weird not sharing a room with you anymore."

"Ah know. What will Ah do with all the peace and quiet?" They both laughed and then they heard a loud noise come from out front. They walked to the doors to see all of the X-Men as well as the Brotherhood (Lance apparently called Todd and Fred) crowded around a large, professional-looking jet.

There was some mumbling in the crowd of people, but other than that it was silent while Magneto regally stepped out of the jet, followed by Pietro. Magneto spotted Kitty and smiled at her. "Have you made your decision yet?" he asked.

She nodded. "I have decided... to accept your offer."

Scott looked at Kitty, confusion all over his face. "What offer?" he asked in a tone that barely hid his rage.

"I have offered Kitty and Pietro a residence at my new home on the small island of Genosha," Magneto replied. "They have accepted."

"Why?" Jean asked. "Kitty, do you really want to leave the X-Men?"

"No, but I'm afraid I'm going to." She looked Jean straight in the eye. "I love you. I love all of you. But I love Pietro too, and you know just as well as anyone that if I stayed here things would only get more tense and complicated. I had to make a choice, and I did. I'm not changing my mind. I'm sorry."

Kitty knew Jean was inside her head, giving her mental 'suggestions' to stay, but they weren't going to work. She had made up her mind. Jean knew that too, and instead just hugged Kitty good-bye. Then the rest of the X-Men did the same thing.

Scott was last. "Good-bye," Kitty said and went to hug him too, but he stepped back.

"No. I'm not saying good-bye because you're not leaving. You can't..." He held out for a few minutes while he and Kitty just stared at each other, but eventually he had to give in. He hugged Kitty harder than any of the others, but still wouldn't say the words 'good-bye'.

While all of that was going on, Lance and Pietro walked up to each other. "So you're leaving?" Lance asked in a casual tone.

"Yeah," Pietro answered just as nonchalant.

There was a long pause. Then Lance said, "You got Kitty pregnant?"

"Yeah."

Lance wasn't sure whether to punch Pietro in the face or give him a high-five. So he just nodded and said, "Well, see ya later."

"See ya," Pietro said back and walked over to Todd and Freddy who both, it seemed, had been crying.

"This is it," Todd said. "This is the big thing that's gonna break up the Brotherhood isn't it?"

"Only if you want it to," Pietro said.

Todd shook his head. "I don't, but it won't be the same without you, man." He gave Pietro a hug and Freddy joined in.

"Freddy!" Pietro yelled. "I can't breathe!"

"Sorry," he said and let go.

"It's okay." Pietro rubbed the back of his neck and slowly walked away.

"We'll miss you!" Todd yelled.

Pietro just waved at them, but said under his breath, "I'll miss you too."

Then he met up with Kitty. They smiled at each other and got on the plane together. Magneto locked eyes with Xavier. _'Get out of my head, Charles,' _he mentally said and the Professor laughed to himself.

_'I figured it was worth one last try,' _he replied telepathically.

Magneto nodded and followed Kitty and Pietro onto the jet.

Kitty waved from the plane while tears started flowing from her eyes again. She kept waving until the jet took off and she could no longer see the people she considered her family since the day she got her mutant powers. Then she turned around and Pietro grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"Oh, I almost forgot," he said and reached under the seat to pick up a yellow book. He handed it to Kitty.

"_Pregnancy for Dummies_," she read out loud and laughed. "Thank you, Pietro. I love it!" She kissed him on the cheek and Magneto walked out of the cockpit.

"We'll be there in a little less than an hour," he said and sat down across from them. "Are you excited?"

"Among other things," Kitty said.

Magneto nodded. "Nervousness is understandable. This is a big step for all of us."

Kitty smiled. "Thank you for this... all of this. It means a lot to me."

"I'm happy to help," Magneto said and turned on the TV that was in the room with them. The news was on and, of course, talking about _'Dance On!'. _

"In recent news," the reporter said while shuffling her most likely blank papers. "The popular dancing show '_Dance On!'_ recent aired its last episode and revealed the winners. To many viewers' surprise the popular couple from New York, Pietro Maximoff and Kitty Pryde, lost first place to the California team. Here is some video footage of their last dance."

Kitty covered her head in embarrassment as they played the clip of her running off the dance floor. "Turn it off," Pietro said and Magneto did so.

"We didn't win," Kitty said sadly.

Pietro cupped her chin in his hand, lifted her face, and said comfortingly, "Yes we did."

Kitty smiled at him and the rest of the trip was spent mostly in silence. However the silence was broken when Magneto looked out the window and said happily, "We're here!"

Kitty and Pietro each gazed out their own window and watched as the clouds cleared away to reveal a lush, green island.

"This is Genosha," Magneto said proudly. "Welcome to the rest of your lives."

**THE END**

(Or is it...?)


End file.
